No one has proclaimed a king, at least not since Ullr Fest in January, but he is King of the week long party that is the tribute to the Norse god of snow, not the Town. We do have a town fool competition at the end of ski season each year, but I have yet to see a king of Breckenridge crowned. Kingdom days are coming up mid-June, and it got me wondering how the term the "Kingdom" of Breckenridge came about. I found a couple of interesting facts. Breckenridge was founded in 1859, and was named after the then Vice-President Breckinridge, who, flattered at having a town named after him, gave the town a Post Office in 1860. The town was called Breckinridge in those days, but when the civil war started and the former VP Breckinridge became a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, the town of Breckinridge changed the spelling of its name to Breckenridge, as it is spelled today. Breckenridge was part of Union allied Colorado Territory and the Confederates were the enemy.
In 1935, it was discovered that a map maker had inadvertently left the town of Breckinridge off the map some 50 years before, and the town fathers petitioned to make the Town a Kingdom. A Proclamation was issued granting "Kingdom" status for 3 days a year and the Town celebrates Kingdom days once a year, in June and again, "No Man's Land days" in August. When you are in Breck, as we locals call it, you see references all over town to the Kingdom of Breckenridge, and now you will know how it got its unofficial name.
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