Everyone, it seems, wants to be a Manitoid . . .  someone who identifies as a Manitou Springs lover.

Of course, being loved by people far and wide is a great thing for a tourist town.

Unless, that is, you are trying to launch a hyper-local social network as the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce is doing.

They’ve found their efforts are being hijacked by wannabe Manitiods all over the globe.

These folks have good intentions. They just want to be associated with the wacky coffin-racing, fruitcake-tossing, drum-beating crowd that has made Manitou famous.

Trouble is, the new site was designed for locals. The 5,200 or so people actually living in Manitou.

It’s supposed to be about chicken dinners and school plays and concerts and water-main breaks and book club meetings and other stuff of little interest outside the village.

But Manitou’s fan latched onto the site after learning of it from the chamber’s Facebook postings.

Now the chamber has the delicate task of dissuading the tourists from clogging up the new site and attracting only residents.

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