Frozen Dead Guy Days Might Lose Star Attraction

NEDERLAND, Colo. (CBS4) - The family of the man whose body is packed in ice in a shed in Nederland is talking about moving the corpse from Boulder County to Michigan.

That could spell trouble for Frozen Dead Guy Days, the popular festival in the small Colorado town that celebrates the cryogenically frozen body of "Grandpa" Bredo Morstoel.

Bo "Iceman" Shaeffer has been responsible for covering Morstoel's coffin with tons of ice every month for 19 years. He told CBS4 at his Longmont farm Tuesday that his boss, Morstoel's grandson who lives in Norway, owes him hundreds of dollars. He said Trygve Bauge hasn't given him a raise and doesn't take into account the backbreaking work he does.

"It's basically a contract dispute. We're not getting paid properly," said Shaeffer, who says he told Bauge he has made his final ice delivery.

"If you're going to take care of your grandfather so he can be re-animated, let's take care of him right," he said.

Bauge wrote in an email to the Daily Camera in Boulder that because of the dispute he has asked the Cryonic Institute to take over the storage of Morstoel's body. The transport wouldn't likely happen until 2015 when appropriate funds for the effort could be raised, according to Bauge.

Amanda MacDonald, who runs the event, has mixed emotions about the possibility of Morstoel leaving.

"We would miss him," she told CBS4.

Although it would be hard, she says that because of the international attention Nederland has gotten for the festival Frozen Dead Guy Days Could easily still live on.

The three day event draws plenty of tourists and helps Nederland's economy during the slow month of March. It features polar plunges, T-shirts, a parade and its main event -- coffin races.

PHOTO GALLERY: Frozen Dead Guy Days 2012

"We get thousands of people to come up and celebrate this goofy guy frozen in a Tuff Shed," one Nederland resident told CBS4.

The tours that take visitors up to the Tuff Shed where Morstoel has been frozen since 1993 obviously would have to be scrapped if Morstoel's body is moved.

Bauge said in his email he's now looking for someone new to make the ice deliveries.

Frozen Dead Guy Days is scheduled to take place on March 8, 9 and 10 next year.

LINK: Frozen Dead Guy Days