Boyle Park filled with music and laughter during Mancos Days this weekend as participates dove face-first into pie-eating contests, competed fiercely at softball and wrangled rubber ducks in the river.
The town buzzed with activity and fun for three days, starting with the kids parade and games on Friday.
The softball tournament also started on Friday and drew only one local men's team and one local women's team. All the rest came from around the region, which organizer Chris Alvarez attributed to the tournament's good reputation.
A team dubbed DB took first in the women's division, out of seven teams. In the men's division, Those Guys took home first out of six teams. This was Those Guys' 16th win out of the past 20 tournaments, said team member Alan Mathews.
He said most of team has been together since the beginning, and many of the members play in leagues.
At the 3-on-3 volleyball tournament, Kyle Cox, Casey Kennedy and Laurel Chappell took first, and Jori and Bri Yeomans and Kerri Morgan took second. The event got off to a bit of slow start, but the organizers opted for single-elimination games to help end things quickly, Dylaina Morrelli said.
"We had a lot people in it that made it fun and worthwhile," she said.
The festivities included many opportunities for more spontaneous fun as well. The second-place winner of the pie-eating contest, Craig Begay, was walking by when he was recruited to eat an entire pie without his hands.
After cleaning off his face and collecting his medal, he said he was headed to lunch.
"You get as big as I am, that was just a snack," he said.
At the pancake-flipping contest, three girls were close to collapsing with giggles as they attempted to toss the food back and forth in the skillets while wearing mitts and aprons.
Next year, they hope to give back during Mancos Days and open their own booth, painting faces and donating money to breast cancer research, Rhiley Montoya, Quincey Montoya and Teya Yeomans all explained together.
In addition to good memories, many kids also walked away with small wooden crossbows from vendor Todd Beckler.
Beckler, a full-time festival vendor, came from Arizona for the event and said the bows have been popular everywhere. But the turnout as a whole was not extraordinary.
"It's been decent," he said.
Another vendor, Jennifer Gurd, also thought the turnout was a bit low.
"The odd person wandered in," she said.
But a returning Mancos native, Joyce Sanchez, was impressed by the events.
"It was nice to be here and see the awesome crowd," she said.
