statutory town
In India, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), also called municipalities, are self-government institutions responsible for the administration of cities, towns, and transitional areas within a state or Union Territory. The 74th amendment to the Const ...
that is the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
Park County, Colorado
Park County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,390. The county seat and largest incorporated town is Fairplay, Colorado, Fairplay, while the unincorporated ...
, United States. The town population was 724 at the 2020 United States census. Fairplay is located in
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
at an elevation of . The town is the fifth-highest incorporated place in the State of Colorado. Fairplay is a part of the Front Range Urban Corridor.
History
A historic gold mining settlement, the town was founded in 1859 during the early days of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. The town was named by settlers who were upset by the generous mining claims given to the earliest prospectors and promised a more equitable system for its residents. The town of Fairplay was incorporated in 1872.
It is the largest community in the grassland basin of Colorado known as
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
Alma
Alma or ALMA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film
* ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter
* ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922
* ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017
* ''Alma'' ( ...
and Hoosier Pass. It is a quiet town, and the roads surrounding it have a low volume of traffic. Although it was founded during the initial
placer mining
Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment.
Placer mining is frequently used for precious metal deposits (particularly ...
boom, the mines in the area continued to produce gold and silver
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...
for many decades up through the middle of the 20th century.
The town consists of modern 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 become the site of relocated historic structures as an open-air museum called South Park City, intended to recreate the early days of the Colorado Gold Rush. Most of the residences in town are located 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 majority of the streets in town were finally paved in 2005.
subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...
or
subalpine
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
climate (
Koppen Koppen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Dan Koppen (born 1979), American football offensive lineman
* (1929–1990), German literary scholar
* (1855–1922), German author
* Otto C. Koppen (1901–1991), American aircraf ...
: Dfc) given its elevation, with short cool summers, and long, windy and cold winters. Temperature ranges between day and night are large, due to the high elevation, low cloud cover, and dryness of the air.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 610 people, 259 households, and 169 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 337 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 93%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 1.3%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 4.9% of the population.
There were 259 households, out of which 32% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34% were non-families. 26% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.8.
Approximately 24% of the town under the age of 18, 8% from 18 to 24, 37% from 25 to 44, 25% from 45 to 64, and 5% 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 110 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 112 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $50,385, and the median income for a family was $51,980. Males had a median income of $34,290 versus $26,430 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $21,740. About 6.6% of families and 9.5% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 10.4% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.
Arts and culture
Burro Days
The Burro Days festival is held on the last weekend of July. The event celebrates the town's mining heritage. The main feature of the festival is a 29-mile (46.7 km) burro race over rough terrain and approximately 3,000-ft (914 m) elevation gain from downtown Fairplay to the 13,185-ft (4019 m) summit of Mosquito Pass. Teams consist of one person and one burro. The race takes about five hours to complete; first prize is $1,000. Previously, the first prize included an ounce of gold. There are several other burro races in Colorado; the most notable takes place in
Leadville
Leadville ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, Lak ...
.
The Fairplay event is the World Championship of Burro Racing, an
ultra-marathon
An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running.
Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...
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. This followed the route that Father John Lewis Dyer of the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...
used for
circuit riding
In the United States, circuit riding was the practice of a judge, sometimes referred to as a circuit rider, traveling to a judicial district to preside over court cases there. A defining feature of American federal courts for over a century after ...
and for carrying mail. With time, the rivalry between the two cities ended this cooperative endeavor.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Fairplay is part of Colorado's
Bustang
Bustang is an intercity bus service in the U.S. state of Colorado. Service began in 2015 and originally traveled between Denver and Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Glenwood Springs. Service has since been expanded to connect Grand Junction ...
intercity bus network. It is on the Gunnison-Denver Outrider line.
Notable people
* Sheldon Jackson, Presbyterian missionary who established what is now the South Park Community Presbyterian Church in Fairplay
See also
*
List of municipalities in Colorado
The U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado has 273 municipal corporation, active municipalities, comprising 198 towns, 73 City, cities, and two Consolidated city-county, consolidated city and county governments. The Denver, City and County of Denver ...