Monument to Prunes and Shorty the Burros
Fairplay, Colorado
Died: 1930, 1951
Prunes and Shorty were beloved burros, studies in contrast in life as they now are in death.
Fairplay's memorial to Prunes is a self-supporting stucco wall, into which is embedded Prunes' collar, which is protected under glass, and a cemented brass plaque, charting Prunes' 60+ years of service to miner Rupert Sherwood, who stood beside the monument when it was unveiled on April 30, 1930. Sherwood had set the aged Prunes free as a kind of town mascot, but the burro froze to death in his shed during an early 1930 blizzard. Sherwood cried at the monument dedication, and said, "Lord I hate to see him go. I would trust him ahead of any man."
Shorty's memorial is less ostentatious, a tiny pink marble tombstone on the courthouse lawn. Shorty was the town mooch (the exact opposite of industrious Prunes) but he was beloved all the same. In fact his dog pal Bum died of a broken heart after Shorty passed, and was interred alongside him.
By 2019 the Prunes monument had become severely weathered and its little burro and cart were gone, but it remains a town landmark.