He’s good enough for one thing, I s

He’s good enough for one thing, I should judge -he can out jump any frog in Calaveras County, said Smiley in Mark Twain’s famous short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” This was the inspiration for the Calaveras County Jumping Frog Contest, which has taken place 1928 in the village of Angel Camp in Calaveras County, California. The first year, 15,000 people attended this unusual event, more than the entire population of Calaveras County at the time The following year, the crowd doubled, and by 1931, the event was so popular that two additional jumping areas had to be added to accommodate entries from around the world. Today, more than 50,000 spectators attend this event and the frog entries number 1,000.



Although the Calaveras County Jumping Frog Contest has gained international attention, the majority of the competitors are still people from Calaveras County. Anyone who would like to enter goes to the registration table, fills out a form, and pays a modest entry fee. The fee includes the cost of renting a frog in case the entrant doesn’t already own one. Many people who live in the area go out and catch their frogs the night before, so they are “fresh” and ready to go on the day of the contest.

After entering the contest, the competitors must decide who will be the “jockey.” This is the person who places the frog on the launching pad and then encourages the frog to jump. The goals of the entrants and their “jockeys” are, first of all, to have fun; second, to win a prize; and third, to set a new world frog-jumping record.


The contest starts when the “jockey” positions his or her frog and then yells, screams, jumps up and down, puffs, blows, whistles, or does whatever else is necessary to incite the frog to jump. The one thing that is not allowed is any kind of physical contact with the frog. Each frog is given 15 seconds to jump three times. Once a frog has made its three jumps, an official measures the distance from the center of the pad to the spot where the frog landed on its third jump. Naturally, the winning frog is usually the one that jumped in the straightest line rather than zigzagged around. Some frogs frustrate their “jockey” by jumping back toward the launching pad after a spectacular first or second jump.

Like any of nature’s creations, frog are unpredictable-that is, unless they have been to Bill Steed’s famous Croaker College. Steed’s “students” are given a 240-hour frog training course to teach them the fundamentals of frog jumping under pressure. At Croaker College, the frogs work out in a pool, lift tiny weighs, do chin-ups and high dives, eat centipede soup and ladybug salad, and generally prepare for the big day. Do graduates of Croaker College really win frog-jumping contest more often? That’s a question Jim Steed prefers not to answer.

After the winners have been announced and the prizes given, the participants can take their frogs (or return their “rentals”) and go home, or they can stay and enjoy the rest of the Calaveras County Fair. They can listen to country music, view craft displays, attend a horse race, watch animal auction, and more. For those people who think nothing quite compares to the excitement of the jumping frogs, however, there is the consolation of knowing there is always next year.