On a recent Saturday, the people of Manitou Springs and beyond converged for an offbeat local tradition befitting of this quirky snow-globe mountain town.
Behold the Great Fruitcake Toss.
Now in its 31st year, the annual event gives people a chance to toss some fruitcake and get to know the community.
The Great Fruitcake Toss is an opportunity for Colorado College students to break free of the CC bubble — the idea that CC students cannot truly engage with the conservative, evangelical Springs community, which can keep some students comfortably within the school limits. However, at least 10 CC students took advantage of the Springs’ eccentric neighbor and attended the Toss.
Each year, the Toss takes place at Memorial Park in downtown Manitou, next to Fountain Creek, with views of the Front Range of the Rockies.
From the parking lot, one can see fruitcakes soaring across the cloudless sky even before identifying a tosser. The projectiles fly so quickly that their shapes are hard to decipher.
Established in 1995, the Great Fruitcake Toss unites the community in a day of confectionery-centered events. Competitions include tosses for distance, accuracy and balance. There is also a bake-off.
A regulation fruitcake will be approximately one pound, edible and baked with fruit, nuts and flour. Soft aluminum tins envelop these cakes, secured with multiple layers of Saran Wrap.
Manitou Springs has a reputation for being a quirky town. While it’s not exactly Burning Man, the Great Fruitcake Toss is the kind of local tradition that puts towns like this on the map. Indeed, the festival has made its way into Atlas Obscura, a well-known publication that provides a “comprehensive database of the world’s most wondrous places and foods.”
“Keep Manitou Weird” has become the town’s trademark, according to Michael Maio, president of the Manitou State Heritage Museum. As part of his role, Maio helps ensure that Manitou’s character never fades.
This year was Maio’s 11th as the Toss’s announcer, standing onstage as he encouraged all ages to get a fruitcake in hand and compete. Despite the excitement, after the past decade, the long event can take a toll on his voice.
“I do very little practicing. I just try to keep my throat lubricated with water,” he said. ”You know, after three hours, I start to lose my voice.”
Maio said the idea of the Great Fruitcake Toss originated in the tendency for people to throw away their fruitcakes after the holidays. Everyone was receiving fruitcakes, but no one seemed to want them, he said. Thirty-one years ago, the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce took inspiration from this to fill the winter lull in community events.
“Oh, I shouldn’t say,” Maio chuckled when asked what’s actually in the fruitcakes. “But I don’t think it’s intended to be eaten.”
Event organizers gather the fruitcakes, slightly bruised but still edible, at the end of the toss and donate them to the Flying Pig Farm located in Manitou Springs, where they are fed to pigs.
“Here in Manitou, volunteerism is a primary component for the operation of this entire town,” Maio said.
Volunteers comprise the total staff of the event, from members of the town’s Chamber of Commerce to locals looking to get involved. According to Maio, this commitment drives other town happenings. The Manitou Art Center, local governmental committees, nonprofit organizations and the Manitou Springs Heritage Museum rely heavily on volunteers.
The event allows participants to donate canned goods to the Manitou Springs Community Food Pantry in exchange for tickets.
Hallie Gurba, the Special Event Coordinator for the town Chamber of Commerce, spent the last two months preparing for the event.
“This is more important now than ever,” she said. “Especially with the food pantry numbers going up. That’s a clear example of how our neighbors are struggling.”
The Manitou community rallies behind the toss, encouraging participants to get involved in the community. From the public library to local businesses, most everyone is in high spirits at the Toss.
Colorado College student Kai Ziolkowski ‘29 attended the event, incidentally, following a brunch with friends in the area.
“I think it’s really nice to see how a community can come together, even in trying times like this, where everyone is so separated,” he said. He added that the event feels as though it represents a community rallying around a mission, that being contributions to the local food pantry.
Fellow CC student Teddy Mottur ‘29 had his own reasons for making the roughly 15-minute drive from campus for the event.
“I’m really stoked about it,” he said. “It’s awesome, it just really gets me going. I love being here.”
Winston Luke, a 1983 CC graduate who grew up in Manitou Springs, recently returned after 40 years on the East Coast. He described Manitou as a “haven for the community,” with this being his second fruitcake toss.
“When I was younger, I would hang out here all summer. I love Manitou,” he said. “It’s nice to have people coming together just, you know, to have a wacky fun time. You know, put all the troubles of the world aside for an afternoon. Manitou has always been great. So inclusive.”
Luke is correct — Manitou is known not only for being “weird,” but also for being an accepting community compared to its Colorado Springs counterpart. While its neighbor is known as a conservative city, Manitou Springs is far more progressive, with an annual Pridefest and several multicultural events throughout the year. Until recently, people in Colorado Springs looking for recreational legal cannabis had to cross the city line into Manitou to make a purchase.
For one group of friends, the Great Fruitcake Toss is something to look forward to for this very reason.
“We’ve been planning this for four weeks,” said Elliot Thibeaux.
After finding the event in a book about weird food traditions, the group of high school friends drove an hour and a half from Golden to participate.
Their long travels didn’t dampen their spirits.
“Dude, this is awesome. I’m having so much fun,” said participant Jason Grebenchenko.
“I enjoy how relaxed it is … most fairs and events are really crowded, but it’s really calm, but still energetic,” added Thibeaux.
The group said they enjoyed the community at the Toss, particularly its inclusivity to the queer community. One friend described the group as a “bunch of fruitcakes tossing fruitcakes.”
At the Great Fruitcake Toss, attendees won’t miss Mr. Fruitcake. Dressed in a 3-D multi-color fruitcake suit, he handed out miniature fruitcake bars and encouraging words to keep participants fueled and entertained.
The suit is rectangular with a brown base, decorated with pecans and various nuts, along with red, yellow and green candied fruit.
This was Mr. Fruitcake’s eighth Toss in the suit, but it was created over 20 years ago by a local artist.
Leaving Colorado, Collin Street Bakery sponsors the event every year by baking and donating the fruitcakes. Based in Corsicana, Texas, the bakery specializes in fruitcakes and remains one of the most famous fruitcake bakeries in the country.
Mr. Fruitcake explained that Corsicana believes itself to be the fruitcake capital of the world, and a rivalry has developed with Manitou over the years. The two towns have enjoyed an unofficial truce.
“We do partner up to share the love and hate of fruitcake,” he said from inside the costume.
To add to the eccentricity, the festival crowns a Fruitcake King and Queen each year. The royal couple consists of the grand-prize winners of the four competitions featured at the toss.
The Great Fruitcake Toss website promptly posts the winners of each category every year. The friendly competition is what keeps Manitou locals coming back to the Toss every year, to take their shot at fruitcake royalty.
At its core, the Toss is more than meets the eye.
Tucked between Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods, only a 15-minute drive from Colorado College, Manitou Springs is a haven for the surrounding area. The annual Great Fruitcake Toss brings locals, students and visitors together after the holiday season.