48th Annual Bigfoot Jamboree complicated by Wildfires!
Lightening stuck on August 11th and fires have been growing since, and smoke has made air unpleasant for communities along the Klamath River! We had about two thousand fire fighters at the River Park when they weren’t out fighting the flames!!
Our town Beautification Queen and Katy Baker at Bigfoot Jamboree booth
So it was an amazing thing that a new Incident Team was called in to work the east side of the fire, so they set up a camp in Fort Jones. The objective was to cut travel time and make their time more efficiently spent working the fire, not traveling back and forth. However, that alleviated some pressures from having an additional double normal population of our town made things work better. They also were so very cooperative about sharing the use of the River Park with the community with the 48th annual Bigfoot Jamboree.
It was no surprise, with fire on everyone’s mind, that the local Fire Department was the winner of the Nonprofit entries in the Bigfoot Jamboree parade Sunday with a trophy and prize. Second place was honoring a very special “A history of Community Support” and specifically the Breast Cancer Awareness event that Marble Mountain Gift Company holds in October. Connie Rasmussen, Rusty Williams, Charlotte Attebery, and Vickie Waddell were some on that float. Third place was Family Resource Center “guiding families to building a greater future.”
The Individual entries first place went to Karen Derry and two pretty young ladies with a unicorn and pink dog!!! Second place individual was Kayla Whitehouse, always a favorite with her baton twirling.
In the business category, Double J Sports and Spirits/ABC Logging had a float with the younger “loggers” and logging equipment for first place. Second place was McCulley Logging and Kenny and Donna McCulley had their grandsons, Ian and Emmett, with them on the truck pulling the 1931 Cat 35 which Kenny started in the logging business after high school. Klamath River Resort Inn won third place with a float celebrating China Town of Happy Camp! While the usual candy was dispersed generously, fortune cookies with good fortune were shared from the China themed float with the Chinese Coolie hats.
Friday evening was the Traditional Salmon Barbecue and also music for the night by the live band, “Loose Arrow.” Softball tournament began in the evening and the Booths were also set up then and came back to begin in the morning. Horseshoe tournament was Saturday. Kids Day at the park, and there was all the fun with the mechanical Bull and obstacle course, as well as a visit by Smokey Bear!!
Saturday evening was also a Fire Information Meeting that was very well attended but I missed the coronation. Fortunately, Bailei Allec who sold a whopping 970 raffle tickets was still there. She should get a special commendation for salesmanship! The prizes were great and lots of people won. There was an acoustic duo from Etna, Jason Conley and David Waymire providing music. Then the Saturday night dance featured the live band, “Stonewash”. You could even ride the mechanical bull until midnight, for fun or competitively.
A special thank you to the Neighborhood Watch people who put on the Sunday Pancake Breakfast! Not only did they have pancakes, but eggs done to your specification, and biscuits and gravy to the 500 or more people who came throughout the morning! Thanks to Dan Effman, Lisa Scott, Cathy Huggins Amber Ogborn and somewhere around that kitchen Cody Sindle was helping out too but eluded my camera. Some who had gone the 5K Run earlier had worked up an appetite and enjoyed a hearty breakfast.
Cupcake War Competition
Collin doing a great job at the Cupcake Wars!!
The best part of Bigfoot Jamboree is seeing the people who return to Happy Camp who have moved away. It was a great time and now we can go back to working on taming fires, studying in school, our work and day to day lives grateful to live among our Klamath neighbors.
Great Thanks to Leona for the great photos that she took at the park!! More will be added soon!!
It was a great event, in spite of some adverse conditions. Many many thanks to all the people who work so hard to put all this together. A good time is had by all!