“Once Upon a Snowdown” has cast a spell on Durango, bringing with it lots of toads, princesses, little piggies and big bad wolves, making for the biggest Snowdown yet.

Snowdown, now in it’s 34th year, has more events, parade entries and costume ideas then ever, said Tim Cooney, “the grand hooha,” aka secretary for Snowdown.

“There are approximately 135 events, the most we’ve ever had,” Cooney said of the festival, which will run from Wednesday through Sunday. “I think it has a lot to do with the fairy tale theme. It’s a very fun theme.”

Whether it’s to shake off cabin fever or show off costumes, Durangoans are crazy for Snowdown, almost rabidly so, as Outside magazine noted in its Jan. 16 issue, which named the festival one of the five best winter carnivals in North America.

“Snowdown may be the only winter carnival in the country that scares more people away from a town than it attracts,” the magazine said.

The quantity of events makes a complete rundown impossible, but here’s some new and unusual ones:

Absent from the distributed program is Derailed Saloon’s first “Ball Games” at 8 p.m. Friday. Contestants will be challenged to shoot a spitball the farthest, get the golf ball into the hole in one shot and eat, eh-hem, a rather strange item.

“We’re doing a $5 entry fee to cover the cost of the turkey testicles that the contestants have to eat,” Lisa Gibson, owner of Derailed Saloon, said.

The winner will be awarded with a $100 cash prize, Todd Gibson said.

Derailed Saloon also will be hosting a $5 raffle for a seven-night trip to Hawaii at 8 p.m. Friday, Todd Gibson said.

For all of those who can’t find their frog prince, Durango singles will be available for purchase at the Kiwanis Club “Single Auction” 7 p.m. Wednesday at the DoubleTree Hotel.

The event will auction off local singles, men and women, to the highest bidder, and winners of this auction won’t even have to pay for dinner.

Emma Cole, 21, was put up to the auction by a friend.

“I had to get some sponsors to match whatever I go for, whatever the bid is, and all the proceeds go to the Kiwanis Club,” Cole said.

A wide array of flavors must be identified by blindfolded contestants at the first “Harry Potter’s Every Flavor Bean Bonanza” hosted by Fuzziwig’s Candy Factory at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“I think the grossest flavor is dog food because they hit it so spot on,” Lincoln Cleverly, an event coordinator and manager of Fuzziwig’s, said. “It’s bad.”

Other flavors include: vomit, dirt, earthworm, rotten egg and booger. This event is free.

Prizes will be given to first-, second- and third-place winners as well as to the one who is able to guess the number of beans in the Fuzziwig jar, Cleverly said.

The popular “Angry Birds” app will be played live with lifesize props and a makeshift slingshot at Moe’s Lounge at 6 p.m. Saturday for the first “Angry Birds” game.

“We’ll have all of the classic birds, exploding birds excluded,” Ricky Carney, the event coordinator said.

A $100 bar tab will be the first-place prize, while second and third place will receive cash prizes as well, Carney said.

Ponga’s will offer “Superbowl Bingo” at 4 p.m. Sunday to wrap up Snowdown while watching the Super Bowl.

Things to expect on the Bingo card: “all football oddities and non-oddities,” J.R. Spies, owner of Ponga’s said. “Everyone will have to pay close attention.”

“It’s something new, something fun to do while watching the game,” Spies said.

The Snowdown Follies is back, for its 29th annual performance, and it promises a “great mix of fun, local humor and lovely contemporary music,” said Janalee Hogan, a Follies organizer in her 21st year.

There are 17 acts, with a cast size of 106 volunteers, she said.

“There’s a returning group of guys performing an absolute showstopper that will make you laugh until you cry,” Hogan said.

The Follies will take place at the Henry Strater Theatre and The Durango Arts Center, with a video simulcast at the Abby Theatre, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The premiere performance will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Henry Strater Theatre, Hogan said.

Though tickets for the Follies are sold out, tickets can still be purchased for the Follies video simulcast at the Abbey Theatre box office for $8 a person.

For those 21 and older, local breweries have crafted Snowdown brews, with recipes created exclusively for the festival.

Carver’s is introducing it’s “Fairy Tale Pale Ale,” crafted by Carver’s brewer, Jeff Albarella.

“It’s just hoppy enough for all of those white rabbits out there,” said Guy Winzenread, Carver’s general manager. “Fairy Tale Pale Ale was the winning name because some of the other names were a little too inappropriate.”

Ska Brewery’s Snowdown brew is “Fairies Wear Boots Gingerbread Ale” and will be available in Durango liquor stores and most Snowdown venues,” Bill Graham, Ska co-founder, said.

Graham collaborated with Ska’s brew staff and Thomas Larsen, Ska’s head brewer, to formulate this “soft brown ale,” which has hints of ginger, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla bean, as well as a few secret ingredients, Graham said.

“To make a brown ale, and to spice it this way and to give it this kind of character, I think we hit a home run,” Graham said. “It tastes a lot like ginger snap cookies and its soft.”

Durangoans are finding the fairy tale theme ripe for costumes.

“We have the whole cast of Alice in Wonderland, including the mad hatter with crazy hair and matching eyebrows,” Kira Harvey, a sales associate with Animas Trading Company, said. “There’s the white rabbit, lots of evil queens, crazy glasses, wands and tutus.”

Some costumes, though, will be homemade.

Charlie Camacho, a local Durango artist, has been working on his costume, “Hillbilly Goats Gruff,” for weeks.

Montezuma County resident Mike Just, 50, has attended Snowdown for the last three years, he said.

“It almost feels like being in Rio or New Orleans during Mardi Gras,” Just said.

Like those festivals, surviving Snowdown takes some endurance.

“We’re taking our vitamin D and staying sober, doing liver exercises and taking a little fish oil,” Graham said with a laugh.

pblank@durangoherald.com