Contests Are Great for Publicity and Business, Just Ask the Frogs of Calaveras County

Who doesn’t love a contest? Especially if you can win a prize and get bragging rights over others!

Even better, contests can bring publicity and business to people, towns, cities, companies, and so on. 

A famous contest in my backyard is the frog jumping contest of the “Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee”.

Amazingly, Mark Twain wrote a short story in 1865 “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” He mentions a crazy story he overheard in a bar in Angels Camp, California about a frog jumping contest.

This short story became hugely popular and launched Twain’s career. It eventually led to the first official frog jumping contest 63 years later in 1928.

Angels Camp and Calaveras County have benefited from this annual contest by bringing loads of tourists to this Northern California town over the years.

Do you have a favorite contest? Have you ever won a contest?

I enjoyed being in a banana-cream-pie eating contest at some picnic, because I love banana cream pie! I didn’t win, but we were all winners for having that delicious pie.