Those frogs can really jump!

KENT — The Kent Volunteer Fire Department will host its annual Firemen’s Fair starting tonight (Aug. 23) and continuing on Friday and Saturday evening. The fair boasts rides, games of chance and skill, and tractor pulls throughout the weekend.

Tonight is Family Night, with special bracelets for amusement park rides to allow families, especially those with several children, to ride for one price.  There will also be a petting zoo and pony rides to add to the family fun.  

But the big event of this evening has to be the annual Frog Jumping Championship starting at 7 p.m.

There are two categories to this event—bullfrog and regular frog  entries.

Leaping lizards and more

Large bullfrogs, long-leaping lizard frogs, green frogs and toads are eligible for entry in this white-knuckle contest.  It’s mostly a children’s event, but adult frog-jumping fans can watch and cheer for their favorite amphibian. Ribbets—sorry—ribbons will be awarded to all participants.

The longest jump on record is 98.5 inches, set by Big Al, whose jump was interrupted as he ricocheted off one of the judge’s chests.

According to Pat Redmond, co-organizer of the event with Roger Whitmore, the frog-jumping contest has been part of the Firemen’s Fair for more than 12 years. At its high point there were upward of 58 participants. In recent years, the number has hovered in the mid-twenties.  

This event is open to all ages, but it’s usually the kids who compete, with as many girls as there are boys.  This is a BYOF event but if you don’t have one, don’t be deterred. Redmond has several spares on hand ready to hop to it at a moment’s notice.

Winners are determined by combining the scores of two consecutive jumps and by recording the cumulative distance, as indicated by a quarter laid down on the spot where the frog ultimately lands.  

On hand to help with record keeping and stats is Lynn Herrington, who Redmond says is vital to the effort.  

In addition to overall best distance Redmond often devises other categories to ensure that everyone is a winner.  

“This is about kids laughing and having fun. I’d make them all first-place winners if I could,� emphasizes Redmond.

Frogs, toads, bulls

In Redmond’s experience, toads are lazy jumpers and do not fare well in the competition. While the bullfrog often wins due to its size (as long as 14 inches), it is the leopard frog that is the superior jumper. Some tree frog entrants are little more than an inch long.

Containing these frogs is just as much part of the job as judging them.  Redmond recounts one year when several petite contestants made a tasty pre-jump meal for an overgrown bullfrog. In this case, part of his role becomes wildlife educator, explaining the circle of life to distraught and bereft owners.

The first contest: taking the leap

To fully appreciate the sport of frog jumping one must reflect on its origins and developments. Where did the tradition of frog jumping begin?

Perhaps there were rudimentary drawings by cavekids in prehistoric dwellings that documented the earliest frog jumps. Or maybe later, in ancient Rome with kidiators in the Coliseum competing their frogs before a bloodthirsty crowd.  

Could it have been the serendipitous byproduct of a hot, lazy day at the local swimming hole with a posse of bored local children?

Mark Twain gives us the earliest recorded history of the event in his  1865 sketch, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.â€� In this piece, which jumped Twain into the national spotlight, it is inveterate  gamblers who used frog jumping as a way to assuage their addiction. In this story, Jim Smiley trains a frog by the name of Dan’l Webster to jump farther  than any other frog. He bets a stranger who, unbeknownst to Smiley, fills Dan’l with buckshot, thus rendering him incapable of flight.

Laying money on a frog

Other questions then arise about the frogs themselves and their owners.

Do these frogs train all year? Are there concerns about steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, and is the sport in danger of becoming overwhelmed by corporate sponsorships?

Are there frog-jump moms who cart kids from contest to contest at the expense of a life of their own? Is frog jumping a sport that will enhance a child’s chance of getting into the college of his or her choice?

Stuff and nonsense one might say.  It’s just a harmless hobby.

Or is it? The largest and most celebrated frog-jumping competition in the country actually did begin in Calaveras County in 1928 in the town of Angels Camp — a mining town that became the setting for Twain’s work. Each year in May, the Calaveras County Fair hosts the Jumping Frog Jubilee. Currently the fair generates $25.5 million in related revenues and the Jubilee has grown so that now more than 4,000 frogs are vying each year for the top prize of $750. If the frog breaks the 21 feet 5-and-3�4-inch record set by Rosie the Ribbeter in 1986, it’s owner wins $5,000.

  This year’s winner, Lisa Can Do, jumped 21 feet 4-and-1â�„4- inches—a tough break.

According to a 1933 Time magazine article on the subject, there were 150 entrants that year and a record set of 11 feet 5 inches. Clearly frogs of today have a competitive advantage. A brief look at the Calaveras Hop Of Fame shows that distance records have inexplicably increased steadily since 1928. Also mentioned in this article was a German frog that had been “streamlined� by soaking in wart remover.

Despite the glitz and glamour of professional frog jumping, the Kent contest has retained the spirit of good old-fashioned fun.