By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Striking street fair gold
Tulips copy
Photo contributed Fields of tulips are found in the spring throughout the Gold Country once the center of mining activity and bustling communities, now mostly tourist attractions. Daffodil Hill is the most popular of the tulip grows in the Mother Lode.

By GLENN KAHL

 

209 staff reporter

There’s plenty of street fair style fun to enjoy in the Gold Country.

 

Columbia State Park is offering a touch of class this Sunday with its own Easter Parade slated to be a Victorian Era promenade down its historic Main Street with prizes for the fanciest Victorian hat and the best dressed couple in period finery.

 

Judging will also include standout lasses and lads along with various groups and pets in the parade.  Registration will begin at 11 a.m. in front of the Fallon Hotel with the parade set to begin its line of march at 12:30.

 

Easter Bunny Thaddeus E. Hare will be hopping about town handing out fresh carrots to the kids he can find — a rabbit’s natural preference to sugared sweets.

 

The popular annual Easter Egg hunts are scheduled for both the small fry three to five-year-olds beginning at noon and then following the Easter Parade the Junior Poachers — 6 to 8-year-olds — will set out in a swarm to located even more of what the bunny has left behind.

 

The 9 to 12-year-olds known as the Great Egg Scramblers will be looking for eggs at 1:30 p.m. hoping to find a golden egg and receive a special prize.

 

At the end of Main Street in the old western town is the Fallon House Theater where every seat is said to be a good seat where many of the off Broadway hits are performed by seasoned actors and college students who join in the mix.

 

On the third Sunday in May the Spring Street Antiques Fair in Columbia will host over 200 vendors selling antiques and collectibles. 

 

During the third weekend in May there is fun for the whole family in historic Angels Camp at the Jumping Frog Jubilee.  It kicks off with a children’s parade in the old downtown and ends with a destruction derby on Sunday night.

 

The Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee is one of the longest running events in California — dating back to 1893 — held that year in Copperopolis. The frog jump finally found its permanent home outside of Angels Camp.

 

That county fair is in the spirit of the old movie classic “State Fair” with a blend of entertainment, exhibits, livestock, arena events, great food and its signature event — the international frog jump.  That piece of Americans has fair goers returning for more every year.

 

At the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn at the end of summer there will be arts and crafts late in the summer.  There will be farm animals with their 4-H families, junior livestock auctions, food and stages of entertainment.   

 

Placer County displays its pride in their rich gold mining past during the summer months as well along with its diverse cultural history from a Mountain Mandarin festival to Auburn’s Festival of Lights Parade.  Foresthill steps back in history each summer with a pioneer day festival that hosts a qualifying round for the final National Gold Panning Championships at the site of the 1848 gold discovery in California.

 

 

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.