How to Visit the Calavares County Jumping Frog Jubilee
The town of Angels Camp gained its notoriety during the California Gold Rush. Many seekers of prosperity traveled from the east to investigate this phenomenon, and one particular visitor was Mark Twain. Twain took a tour of several California outposts and from Angels Camp he wrote the short story: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” The story tells of a rigged frog jumping contest where the loser was fed quail shot and is thus weighted down. Modern Angels Camp hosts the Calaveras County Fair each year, and though effort is made to keep the fair standard, with pie judging and a rodeo, the Jumping Frog Jubilee has become a choice destination.
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Instructions
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Visit during the scheduled county fair, usually held in mid-May. Check ahead online to see specific activities and schedules (see Resources below).
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Make hotel reservations early to stay in Angels Camp. The small town has limited lodging facilities and the one main street is simply overwhelmed during the weekend festivities. Research area bed and breakfast hotels, or reserve a room in one of the historic downtown hotels which claim to have once boarded Twain.
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Make reservations instead in nearby Stockton; a much bigger town and situated on a major north/south California artery. Most motel franchises are represented there.
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Fly into San Francisco International and use the map of California to locate Angels Camp, located 2 hours west of the Bay area.
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Plan to drive into Angels Camp early in the morning for the festivities. The town becomes a destination for area motorcyclists that weekend and the streets are bombarded with cycle traffic. An early arrival and a late departure may eliminate much of this congestion.
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Stop along South Main Street and get a schedule of the events. Since the Jumping Frog Jubilee is held at different times of the day, spend the time waiting by having coffee in the cafes or window shopping. Shops generally sell unique gifts or antiques. There may even be some time to shop before leaving to the fairgrounds up the hill.
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Note the clothesline stretched between two second-story windows, stringing multi-colored bloomers across the street: the event planner's tongue-in-cheek effort to make the event authentic.
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Drive to the fairgrounds and park. It becomes immediately apparent that this community takes frog jumping contests seriously. The jumping frogs are thoroughbreds, raised by children and their families with love, culminating in an annual event to compete for world jumping records and blue ribbons.
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Plan to sit close to the stage area. The stage is large and the sizable frogs are small in comparison, plus their excited masters, mostly preteen children, jump as much as the frogs do. Nets are kept handy as are measuring tapes to document the jump. The event is amusing and fascinating with the audience completely engaged, treating it like the Kentucky Derby.
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Enjoy the rest of the fair after the day’s Jumping Frog Jubilee has ended. The fair lasts until Sunday with frog related events occurring throughout. This is a standard small town fair--quaint, homey and friendly. There are rides, concessionaires and animals.
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Resources
- Photo Credit James Barnett
