Fruita’s claim to fame: The†town of Fruita, Colorado, celebrates Colorado Heritage Week with a Mike the Headless Chicken Festival. The story goes like this: In 1945, a farmer in Fruita, Lloyd Olsen, went to retrieve one of his chickens (a Wyandotte rooster) for dinner.†Lloyd wanted to leave as much of the neck of the chicken as he could, so he chopped off the head as ìtightlyî as possible. He lopped off his head with an ax, but the chicken did not die. Instead, the chicken continued to walk around the yard and†”peck” for his food. Olsen started feeding the chicken with an eyedropper. The headless bird named Mike appeared in ìLifeî magazine and traveled to exhibitions around the country. Mike lived for 18 months after his head was chopped off.†Thousands of people flock to downtown Fruita every May†for the festival, which includes music, contests, food and family fun – all in observance of Mike, the headless chicken.
