NEW MEXICO
Once arranged in a ring just like England’s ancient
Stonehenge, 100 refrigerators are no longer standing in
Santa Fe. Strong winds toppled much of the 80-foot-high,
graffiti-covered structure, reports the Associated Press, and the
rest was dismantled on May 30. “Fridgehenge,” or
“Stonefridge,” as it was dubbed, morphed into a cult
phenomenon that drew tourists over its nearly 10-year existence.
But what did it mean exactly? City spokeswoman Laura Banish said it
“started out as a statement about American consumerism and
waste, and then it sort of became waste itself.” Adam
Horowitz, its creator, said that right from the beginning,
bureaucrats debated the message of the piled-up refrigerators,
asking: “ ‘Is it art or is it garbage?’ And
I’d say, ‘Yes, that’s the point.’ ”
MONTANA
Hutterites, a patriarchal Christian sect of some 5,000
people, allow no dancing, televisions or cars, but
members do like to cross the border to Canada to see family members
or sell wheat. For that, these days, they need passports. Thanks to
the Great Falls post office, “passport fairs” have been
held at some 18 Hutterite colonies, and they’ve been so
efficient, reports the Great Falls Tribune, that
at one stop, 44 passports were processed in 90 minutes. A downside,
perhaps, was the excellent food. The Hutterites grow everything
they eat, and they were eager to treat postal employees to kitchen
tours that featured fresh-baked rolls and chicken pot pie. Said
Postal Service worker Jacque Stingley, “We’ve been
eating like kings and queens. I’m sure I gained five
pounds.”
COLORADO
Eight-year-old Bryan Moore was all set to take his first
plane trip when he was red-flagged at the airport in Cortez,
Colo. “The lady just bowed her head and said,
‘We can’t get you on the plane, you’re a
terrorist,’ ” the soon-to-be third-grader told
MyFoxKansasCity, adding that he didn’t think it was fair to
bump him from flying for a day “because another man in the
world was a terrorist.” Surprisingly, the Transportation
Security Administration agreed. No child is supposed to be on the
no-fly watch list, said a spokesman. If a kid’s name matches
that of somebody on it, it’s up to the airline to make the
“necessary changes” and let the child board.
Unfortunately, by the time Great Lakes Airlines cleared things up,
Bryan’s plane had already left, and he had to wait another
day before he could fly home.
COLORADO
Some 200 people
celebrated the rerouting of 110-car coal trains around the town of
Delta, in western Colorado, by taking nostalgic rides on
a vintage 1950s passenger train, reports the Mountain
Valley News. Then came the irony: As the train rocketed
past fields of corn along a highway, passengers heard talks about
safety at railroad crossings. But when folks looked out the window,
they spotted a slew of railroad buffs chasing the train with
cameras and taking risks like no tomorrow. “My God, there
that guy is again,” exclaimed a woman on the train,
“and look, he’s driving while shooting video.”
CALIFORNIA
What
smells like sweaty feet, has tiny yellow flowers, and is
so exciting a find that aficionados around the country are planning
trips to Yosemite National Park to see it? It’s the only
orchid known to be endemic to the Sierra Nevada range. Alison
Colwell, a botanist with the U.S. Geological Survey, spotted the
rare plant, which is found only between 6,000 and 9,000 feet, after
getting a whiff of the Yosemite bog orchid’s pungent smell.
“Eew, what’s that?” she asked herself, then
tracked the plant to a wet meadow, one of nine sites for the
orchid. Park officials didn’t release details about the
location, however, “because they were concerned visitors
might love it to death,” according to the Seattle
Times.
WASHINGTON
Fifty-seven participants in the Seattle Naked
Bike Ride, an event held annually since 2003 to protest
pollution, streaked through the city’s parks recently, their
bodies painted in bright colors. Their presence was a cheery sight,
according to one bystander. But not everyone agreed. After several
people complained, police arrested three of the bare bikers —
a big change from their usual stance of taking a blind eye, reports
the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Here’s the
rub: Under Washington law, you can be naked in public as long as
nobody is offended. But once someone complains, you’re in
trouble. “This is what happens when there’s a
communication failure,” said organizer Daniel Johnson. But
bare biking will return, he says, next July.
Betsy Marston is editor of Writers on the Range, a service of High
Country News in Paonia, Colorado. Tips of Western oddities are
always appreciated and often shared in the column, Heard around the
West.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Heard around the West.
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