ESTES PARK, Colo. — An elk made for an unconventional shopper at a souvenir store in downtown Estes Park, and it was captured in a set of awesome photos.
Elsa and Ralph, the owners of The Sweatshirt Center on Elkhorn Avenue, shared the very Colorado moment with Scripps News Denver. The owners of the fourth-generation, family-owned shop say elk have entered the store on two separate occasions recently.
“Customers were as surprised as we were,” the owners wrote in their email to the station. “It’s the kind of moment that feels uniquely ‘Estes’ — where nature and tourism meet in the most unpredictable (and hilarious) ways.”
The elk walked through the lobby of the store and checked out the items on sale “as if it were just another tourist looking for a hoodie or a mug,” the owners wrote.
The Sweatshirt Center is located at the heart of the main drag in Estes Park’s quaint downtown. It sells sweatshirts and other clothing as well as other mountain-themed novelties.
Estes Park is known as the elk capital of the world for its massive population of the iconic ungulate. Earlier this year, Scripps News Denver spoke to a photographer who snapped incredible images of arguably the most unique elk in the Estes herd: An ultra-rare, white-haired piebald elk.
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