A event that’s been drawing big crowds for 30 years in the Colorado Springs-adjacent mountain town of Manitou Springs could be at risk amid security concerns.

According to reporting from The Gazette’s Savannah Eller, the Emma Crawford Coffin Races could fall “victim of its own popularity.” Taking place annually the Saturday prior to Halloween, city council members proposed pausing the event this month due to concern about its growth and local law enforcement’s ability to properly provide security.

While Manitou Springs is a popular tourist spot that draws plenty of crowds to its main street and thanks to its many shops and attractions like the Pikes Peak Cog Railway and the Manitou Incline, its population is about 4,800. With the Emma Crawford Coffin Races drawing a crowd of about 10,000 people, it can quickly overwhelm the local infrastructure.

The Manitou Springs police chief was cited in the Gazette article as stating that while no major security incidents have happened at the event before, the ratio of attendees to officers and the presence of alcohol make it a “high-risk event.” That report notes that 10 local officers typically provide security with the professional recommendation for an event of that nature being one officer per 100 attendees – even the suggestion of recruiting 10 deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to assist would still mean significant understaffing, bringing the ratio to one law enforcement personnel per 500 attendees.

With the event scheduled to take place on October 24 in 2026, it’s unclear whether or not security woes will lead to a pause. Stay tuned.

The consideration that’s underway harkens back to the 2022 decision to move Nederland’s long-standing Frozen Dead Guys Days festival to Estes Park amid similar concern related to security and whether or not a town of 1,500 residents could handle an event that brought in more than 20,000 attendees.

With the Emma Crawford Coffin Races being a tourism staple of Manitou Springs for decades, it’s likely that local business owners may also be opposed to a pause or moving the races elsewhere due to a potential economic impact.

The Emma Crawford Coffin Races also highlight an important part of the local culture and history, paying homage to 19th-century musician Emma Crawford who moved to Manitou Springs in 1889 in hopes that the mineral springs and fresh mountain air would help with her tuberculosis. She died after two years and while her coffin was buried on top of the nearby Red Mountain, it famously washed down the mountainside years later, inspiring the event. Her story is not only one that’s been locally told for decades, but it’s also one that highlights how a large part of the initial population boom in Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs was due to people traveling to the area in hopes of curing ailments and achieving better health.

Today, the main event of the Emma Crawford Coffin Races is a high-energy competition in which teams push coffin-like carts down the road in a race. Four pushers participate, along with a team member dressed like Emma Crawford who is carried in the cart.

Read the full in-depth report from The Gazette here.

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