Beatty Days Festival

Beatty Days fills Beatty, the Gateway to Death Valley, with town-wide revelry at Cottonwood Park, powered by chili, live music, and offbeat contests. Signature competitions include root beer belching, chicken drop bingo, the pickle liquor hoot-n-holler, and bed races down main street. The weekend also brings parades for people and costumed pets, historical reenactments and gunfights, the crowning of Miss and Junior Miss Beatty Days, an International Chili Society-sanctioned cook-off, a car show, trunk-or-treating, the Tombstone 2K Walk and 5K Run, a desert art show, and smaller games from cornhole to tricycle races.

Our take: Stake a spot on main street for the bed races, then eat at the International Chili Society cook-off before the smaller contests fill the afternoon.