Fairplay is a town in Park County, Colorado, United States. At an altitude of 9,953 ft. (3,034 m), it is the fifth-highest incorporated place in the state of Colorado.[1] The population was 610 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Park CountyGR6. A historic gold mining settlement, the town was founded in 1859 during the early days of the Colorado Gold Rush. It is the largest community in the grassland basin of Colorado known as South Park, sitting at the northwest end of the basin at the junction of U.S. Highway 285 and Colorado State Highway 9. It sits on hillside on the eastern side of the Middle Fork South Platte River, near where Highway 9 ascends the river valley northward to Alma and Hoosier Pass. It's a generally quiet town, and the roads surrounding it are pacific. Although it was founded during the initial placer mining boom, the mines in the area continued to produce gold and silver ore for many decades up through the middle of the 20th century.
The town consists of a 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 east of Colorado 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.
The town has become mildly famous in recent years as the town depicted in the South Park animated television series on Comedy Central. Although the geographical references contained in several episodes imply that Fairplay is the model for South Park, it is much smaller and more rustic than its fictional counterpart, which has a more suburban character. Co-creater Trey Parker grew up in Conifer and went to high school in Evergreen; both of which are somewhat more affluent mountain communities immediately west of Denver in Jefferson County. Co-creator Matt Stone lived in the Denver suburb of Littleton. Because the town serves a regional center of government and commerce, the term "South Park" has historically been used in the town in the naming of institutions and business, including South Park Elementary School (the namesake of which appears in the series).
Burro Days is a festival held on the last weekend of July. The event celebrates the town's mining heritage and the main feature of the festival is a 29-mile burro race over rough terrain and elevation gain from downtown Fairplay to the 13,000-ft 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. There are several other burro races in Colorado, the most notable takes place in Leadville. The Fairplay race is considered the World Championships of Burro Racing.
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