Fairplay, Colorado Fairplay, Colorado View of Fairplay and South Park looking south from State Highway 9.

The historic buildings of South Park City, an open-air exhibition, are in the foreground.

View of Fairplay and South Park looking south from State Highway 9.

The historic buildings of South Park City, an open-air exhibition, are in the foreground.

Nickname(s): The Real South Park Location in Park County and the State of Colorado Location in Park County and the State of Colorado State State of Colorado Gold nuggets found near Fairplay, Colorado Fairplay is the statutory town that is the governmental center of county and the most crowded municipality of Park County, Colorado, United States. Fairplay is positioned in South Park at an altitude of 9,953 feet (3,034 m).

The town is the fifth-highest incorporated place in the State of Colorado. The populace was 679 at the U.S.

A historic gold quarrying settlement, the town was established in 1859 amid the early days of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.

The town was titled by pioneer who were upset by the generous quarrying claims given to the earliest prospectors and promised a more equitable fitness for its residents. The town of Fairplay was incorporated in 1872. It is the biggest improve in the grassland watershed of Colorado known as South Park, sitting on the west edge of the watershed at the junction of U.S.

The town consists of undivided retail businesses along the highway, as well as a historic town on the bluff above the river along Front Street.

The northern extension of Front Street along the river has been preserved and has turn into the site of relocated historic structures as an open-air exhibition called South Park City, intended to recreate the early days of the Colorado Gold Rush.

Most of the residences in town are positioned on the hillside west of US Highway 285 and east of State Highway 9, in the vicinity of the schools and Park County Courthouse.

The Town of Fairplay, Colorado, is the visual basis for the Town of South Park, Colorado, in the tv series South Park. The citizens in the show are influenced by Boulder, Colorado, where the creators attended college at the University of Colorado.

A previous eight-bed Park County Hospital had directed in Fairplay as early as 1892 and preceded the Mc - Namara Hospital.

In 1874, the Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson assembled in Fairplay the still-standing Sheldon Jackson Memorial Chapel, since retitled the South Park Community Church, a one-room Victorian structure done in Gothic Revival Architecture, which was listed in 1977 on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town has a total region of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2), all of it land.

Climate data for Fairplay, Colorado In the town, the populace was spread out with 23.9% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 37.5% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 5.1% who were 65 years of age or older.

Fairplay dredge, 1940s, the biggest gold dredge in Colorado The chief feature of the festival is a 29-mile burro race over rough terrain and approximately 3,000-ft altitude gain from downtown Fairplay to the 13,000-ft summit of Mosquito Pass.

There are a several other burro competitions in Colorado, the most notable takes place in Leadville.

The Fairplay event is the World Championship of Burro Racing, an ultra-marathon and the longest burro race in the state. For many years (in the 1960s and early 1970s) the Burro race took place from Leadville to Fairplay, or vice versa, crossing over Mosquito Pass.

The 64th burro race, held in Fairplay on July 28 29, 2012, despite precipitation thriving a record crowd of more than ten thousand persons.

Burro Days is the primary fundraiser for region schools. The 2012 winner of the 29.5-mile long course is George Zack of Broomfield, Colorado, with his burro "Jack." Sheldon Jackson, Presbyterian missionary who established what is now the South Park Community Presbyterian Church in Fairplay.

The town has turn into mildly famous in recent years as the town depicted in the South Park animated tv series on Comedy Central.

Although the geographical references contained in a several episodes imply that Fairplay is the model for South Park, it is much lesser and more rustic than its fictional counterpart, which has a more suburban character.

Because the town is a county-wide center of government and commerce, the term "South Park" has historically been used in the town in the naming of establishments and business, including South Park High School (the namesake of which appears in the series).

The elementary school is Edith Teter Elementary and the middle school is South Park Middle School.

Although the town of South Park is based upon the real life town of Fairplay, the latter is mentioned by Gerald Broflovski in the episode "Night of the Living Homeless" and described as "4 miles away" in "Jakovasaurs", which implies that it is a separate town in the show.

A South Park alongside to the Burro race can be found in the "Cow Days" episode.

View of Fairplay and South Park.

State of Colorado Colorado metros/cities and suburbs Park County, Colorado a b "Active Colorado Municipalities".

State of Colorado, Department of Local Affairs.

State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives.

Town of Fairplay, Colorado.

"Colorado Highways: Elevation-Related Trivia Items".

"FAQ - South Park Studios".

South Park Studios.

Laura King Van Dusen, "Fairplay's Health Care History: In 1966, Mc - Namara Was Modern Replacement for Old County Hospital; A Look Back into Fairplay's Healthcare History", Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2013), ISBN 978-1-62619-161-7, pp.

Laura King Van Dusen, "Sheldon Jackson's Fairplay Church: One of More than One Hundred in Western U.S.; Jackson Arrested, Jailed in Alaska; Contributed to Settlement of the West", Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past pp.

"Climate Fairplay - Colorado".

Laura King Van Dusen, "Burro Days sees record crowd well over 10,000", The Flume of Park County, Colorado, August 3, 2012 Laura King Van Dusen, "64th World Championship Pack Burro Race winners are George Zack, Karen Thorpe", The Flume, August 3, 2012 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fairplay, Colorado.

Town of Fairplay Website CDOT map of the Town of Fairplay South Park Chamber of Commerce Municipalities and communities of Park County, Colorado, United States State of Colorado

Categories:
Towns in Park County, Colorado - Towns in Colorado - County seats in Colorado - South Park