Angels Camp, CA…As the momentum builds every year for the rural America tradition, fun and pageantry that is the Fair & Frog Jump Jubilee some events stand out as signature events.  It is during these events that our local hazing hits high gear.  One of the rights of passage for any prospective beauty queen here is to kiss a few frogs.  Not a fake, close but not quite, but actual lips on a green amphibian.  Why does it matter….well if your not from here you wouldn’t understand.  Also, if you are an elected, or hope to become one, planting lips somewhere on our green royalty from time to time just has to be done.  If you don’t and it becomes public knowledge you run the risk of your quest being in vain, or if you somehow managed to get elected without kissing a frog the only way to remove this electoral curse is to publicly and repeatedly make amorous protestations towards our green citizens….

These events are also the way the community thanks those that volunteer, support, organize, sponsor & participate in our annual spectacle.  On a serious note the Calaveras County Fair & Frog Jumping Jubilee has become the model for other rural fairs to move successfully away from a state funded model to entirely and community run and profit centered organizations.

Through the “Friends Of The Fair” and other volunteer efforts the Fair & Frog Jump and the year round operations of the fair grounds and facilities is now better than ever.  Much of the red tape has been dispensed with or maybe just good naturedly ignored and many improvements just materialize as if from thin air.  In reality many of the supporters work diligently to get these things done but they just seem to happen.

At these events various committees or long serving board members are honored and the Junior Fair Board, Miss Calaveas and Calaveras Saddle Queen Contestants are formally introduced and speak.

After the food has been consumed and a few libations have been consumed the subject always seems to get back around to getting as many people to kiss the frogs as possible.