Frog jumping contest

Last updated
Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee 2016 Frog jumping contest 1.jpg
Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee 2016

Frog jumping is a competitive pastime for humans in which frogs are entered into competitions to jump certain distances. Frog jumping contests are held in small communities scattered around the United States, as part of the folk culture.

Frog jumping was made famous in a short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain. An event, inspired by the Twain story, has been held annually in Angels Camp, in California's Calaveras County, since 1928, with other events held in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Washington, Maine, Missouri, Louisiana, New York, Wisconsin, and also in Manitoba, Canada.

With 4,000 contestants in 2007, the Calaveras County contest has imposed strict rules regulating the frog's welfare, including limiting the daily number of a frog's jumps and mandating the playing of calming music in their enclosures. Entering specimens of the California red-legged frog in the competition, since it is an endangered species, is illegal. (It is also illegal, and likewise considered poor sportsmanship, for any competing frog to be weighted down by any means, as the frog in the Twain story was by the stranger who cheated in the contest as described.) Participants entering the longest-jumping frog were to win a $750 prize, or $5,000 if their frog were to break the 1986 record of 21 feet 5+34 inches (6.547 m), set by "Rosie the Ribeter".

Bibliography


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calaveras County, California</span> County in California, United States

Calaveras County, officially the County of Calaveras, is a county in both the Gold Country and High Sierra regions of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 45,292. The county seat is San Andreas. Angels Camp is the county's only incorporated city. Calaveras is Spanish for "skulls"; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angels Camp, California</span> City in the state of California, United States

Angels Camp, also known as City of Angels and formerly Angel's Camp, Angels, Angels City, Carson's Creek and Clearlake, is the only incorporated city in Calaveras County, California, United States. The population was 3,836 at the 2010 census, up from 3,004 at the 2000 census. It lies at an elevation of 1378 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murphys, California</span> Census designated place in California, United States

Murphys, originally Murphys New Diggings then Murphy's Camp, is an unincorporated village located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Calaveras County, California, United States. The population was 2,213 at the 2010 census, up from 2,061 at the 2000 census.

Calavera or its plural calaveras, may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County</span> 1865 short story by Mark Twain

"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain. It was his first great success as a writer and brought him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". In it, the narrator retells a story he heard from a bartender, Simon Wheeler, at the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, about the gambler Jim Smiley. The narrator describes him: "If he even seen a straddle bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get to wherever he going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana State Fair</span> Annual fair held in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

The Indiana State Fair is an annual state fair that spans 18 days in July and August in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. The Indiana State Fair debuted in 1852 at Military Park in Indianapolis and is the sixth oldest state fair in the U.S. It is the largest event in the state, drawing between 730,000 and 980,000 visitors annually since 2010. In 2015, readers of USA Today ranked the Indiana State Fair among the ten best state fairs in the country.

<i>The Adventures of Mark Twain</i> (1944 film) 1944 film by Irving Rapper

The Adventures of Mark Twain is a 1944 American biographical film directed by Irving Rapper and starring Fredric March as Samuel Clemens and Alexis Smith as Twain's wife Olivia. Produced by Warner Bros., the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including that for Best Music for Max Steiner's score. Irving Rapper was hesitant to direct the film but was persuaded by Hal B. Wallis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angels Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, was the hotel where the author Mark Twain heard a story that he would later turn into his short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County".

Valley City is an unincorporated community in central Liverpool Township, Medina County, Ohio, United States. The west branch of the Rocky River and Plum Creek flow near Valley City from south to north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St-Pierre-Jolys</span> Village in Manitoba, Canada

St-Pierre-Jolys is a village in the Canadian province of Manitoba, located 50 km (31 mi) southeast of Winnipeg on Highway 59 near the Rat River. It is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of De Salaberry, and the nearest communities to it are Steinbach, St. Malo, Morris and Niverville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oktoberfest celebrations</span> Overview of Oktoberfest celebrations around the world

The Oktoberfest is a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Germany during late September and early October. It is attended by six million people each year and has inspired numerous similar events using the name Oktoberfest in Germany and around the world, many of which were founded by German immigrants or their descendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Twain in popular culture</span>

Mark Twain's legacy includes awards, events, a variety of memorials and namesakes, and numerous works of art, entertainment, and media.

The Californian was a San Francisco literary newspaper published weekly from May 28, 1864 until February 1, 1868.

<i>The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories</i>

The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906) is a collection of thirty comic short stories by the American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The stories contained span the course of his career, from "Advice to Young Girls" in 1865 to the titular tale in 1904. Although Twain had ample time to refine his short stories between their original publication date and this collection, there is little evidence to suggest he took an active interest in doing so. "A Burlesque Biography" contains only a few minor technical revisions which make it different from the 1871 version found in Mark Twain's "(Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance". "Advice to Little Girls" shows slight revision from its earlier publication in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

The Saturday Press was the name of a literary weekly newspaper, published in New York City from 1858 to 1860 and again from 1865 to 1866, edited by Henry Clapp, Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Twain bibliography</span>

Samuel Langhorne Clemens ,⁣ well known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), which has been called the "Great American Novel," and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). He also wrote poetry, short stories, essays, and non-fiction. His big break was "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (1867).

Tom Sawyer Days originated in 1956 with the first Tom Sawyer Fence Painting contest sponsored by the Hannibal Jaycees & the first Tom & Becky contest was sponsored by the Hannibal Chamber of commerce. Originally the event took place in May as an activity for a St. Louis based Educational Television station tour as an activity to add color to the local event for 1200 children from St. Louis traveled to the area to experience. In 1959 those events were moved to July 4th and congress sponsored it to officially become National Tom Sawyer Days.

Dan'l Webster may refer to: