On Saturday, October 24, 2026, teams in costume will push wheeled coffins up Manitou Avenue while several thousand people watch from the sidewalks. This is the 32nd running of the Emma Crawford Coffin Races, and it is the single busiest day of the year in a town that is already tight on parking on an ordinary Saturday in July.
It is also free, genuinely strange, and worth planning around rather than stumbling into. The logistics are the part most visitors get wrong — particularly the lodging, because late October is exactly when the region’s camping options thin out.
The 2026 Schedule
The event runs on Saturday, October 24, 2026, centered on Manitou Avenue in the historic downtown district.
- 10 a.m. — Fan Zone opens in the 700 block
- 12 p.m. — The parade begins
- Approximately 1–2 p.m. — The races follow the parade
The races themselves take place in the 900 block of Manitou Avenue, with the festival footprint extending down to the 700 block. Admission is free. ADA accessibility is limited, which is worth knowing in advance given the crowd density and the sloped, narrow sidewalks of a historic downtown built into a canyon.
The parade is not a warm-up act — for a lot of attendees it is the main event, and the hearses, costumed groups, and assorted oddities that roll through at noon are the reason people arrive by mid-morning rather than at race time.
Who Emma Crawford Was
The event has a real story behind it, and it is a sadder one than the festival atmosphere suggests.
Emma Crawford came to Manitou Springs in 1889 seeking treatment for tuberculosis — the mineral springs drew people with lung disease throughout the late nineteenth century, and the town’s early resort economy was built substantially on that traffic. She died in 1891. Her fiancé, Wilhelm Hildenbrand, and eleven townspeople carried her coffin to the summit of Red Mountain, roughly 7,200 feet, and buried her there.
In 1929, after a run of hard winters and heavy spring rains loosened the slope, the coffin came down the mountainside. What was found afterward amounted to the casket handles, a nameplate, and a few bones.
The Chamber of Commerce started the coffin races in 1995 as a way of marking the story. Whether that is a tribute or an irreverence is a question the town seems comfortable leaving open.
Where to Stay: Late October Narrows the Field
This is where a coffin-races trip differs from a summer trip, and it is the planning detail most likely to catch out anyone bringing a tent or an RV.
Lone Duck Campground in Cascade is closed. It typically operates from the first weekend in May through the last weekend in September, which puts the coffin races almost a month past its season. If you have stayed there on a summer trip, do not assume it is an option in October.
Pike National Forest campgrounds are unreliable this late. Developed campgrounds along the US-24 and Highway 67 corridor — South Meadows and Colorado Campground among them — run seasonally, roughly late spring through early fall, with potable water and host presence scaled back or removed outside that window. Some may still be accessible in a limited capacity; none should be treated as confirmed without checking directly with the Pike-San Isabel National Forest first. At 7,800 to 8,000 feet, overnight temperatures in late October are a separate consideration from whether the gate is open.
Garden of the Gods RV Resort on West Colorado Avenue is the closest full-hookup option and the most likely to be operating, with 30/50-amp service, sewer, and water. It is a paved resort-style park rather than a forest campground, and its position between Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs is about as close as you can base a rig to the event.
Cheyenne Mountain State Park, on the south side of Colorado Springs, is roughly 20–25 minutes out and has 51 full-hookup sites plus walk-in tent sites across its four campgrounds. As a state park it publishes consistent fee and reservation rules year-round, which makes it the most predictable option for a shoulder-season booking.
For a fuller breakdown of these and the rest of the region’s options, see our Manitou Springs camping guide and, if you are in an RV, the RV parks near Pikes Peak guide.
Book early regardless. A free event that draws a regional crowd into a town of a few thousand people does not leave much slack in the lodging within a half-hour radius.
Parking, Shuttles, and Road Closures
Manitou Avenue closes through the event footprint, and the organizers run designated parking with a complimentary shuttle into the festival area. A road closure map is published ahead of the event, and it is worth pulling up before you drive in rather than after you are already committed to a canyon road with nowhere to turn around.
Two practical notes. First, do not plan on finding street parking in the historic district — that district is small, the closures remove a chunk of it, and residents occupy much of what remains. Second, rideshare into town is a genuinely common approach for this event and sidesteps the parking question entirely if you are staying in Colorado Springs.
Arrive earlier than feels necessary. The Fan Zone opening at 10 a.m. and the parade at noon means the parking situation is effectively decided well before the races start.
If You Want to Enter a Team
Racing teams consist of one “Emma” riding in the coffin and four runners pushing it, all in costume. Entry for 2026 carries a $100 fee, with registration forms and payment due by midnight on Thursday, October 22, 2026. Sign-ups run through Eventeny, and the Manitou Art Center has offered coffin-building classes for teams that would rather learn the construction than improvise it.
There are published specifications for the coffins themselves. Read them before you build — the dimensions and wheel requirements are not suggestions, and a non-conforming coffin is not a problem you want to discover on race morning. Full entry details are on the Manitou Springs Chamber’s coffin race page.
Frequently Asked Questions
When are the 2026 Emma Crawford Coffin Races?
Saturday, October 24, 2026. The Fan Zone opens at 10 a.m. in the 700 block of Manitou Avenue, the parade begins at noon, and the races follow immediately afterward, generally between 1 and 2 p.m.
Does it cost anything to attend?
No. Attendance is free. Only race entry carries a fee, at $100 per team for 2026.
Can I camp near Manitou Springs during the coffin races?
Options are limited in late October. Lone Duck in Cascade closes after the last weekend in September, and Pike National Forest campgrounds run seasonally with services reduced or removed outside the peak window. Garden of the Gods RV Resort and Cheyenne Mountain State Park are the more dependable late-season choices, and both should be booked well ahead.
Where do I park?
Organized parking with a free shuttle is provided, and a road closure map is published before the event. Street parking in the historic district is not a realistic plan — the closures and resident parking absorb most of it.
Sources: Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce — Emma Crawford Coffin Races & Festival, coffin race entry information.