by Judy Bushy August 22, 2015
Bigfoot Jamboree is planned, promoted and produced by the Happy Camp Coordinating Council, Inc. If you want to see the wonderful things that they are planning for Labor Day Weekend, look on the beautiful Web Site Abigail Yeager has made on: www.bigfootjamboree.org. For those who haven’t gone there, there is a very special 5K Dash/run that will take place, the Cup Cake Wars,Lawn mower Races and still more to come! Friday night will be a Traditional Salmon Dinner 6:30 until it’s gone.

The Bigfoot Dash, which is 5K, is returning for its 3rd Year! Bigfoot Dash begins at 9am on Sunday, September 6th, 2015. Runners will take off from the River Park Pavilion and head down the Nature Trail along the Klamath River to the Klamath River Bridge, crossing the bridge and taking Elk Creek Road just to Curly Jack where the Curly Jack Campground marks the turnaround.The runners head back towards town crossing the finish line in front of the Parade Judge’s podium next to Ricks Napa Auto Parts. You will want to pre-register for the race at a reduced rate of $10 per person and order a t-shirt for an additional $15. Race-day Registration begins at 8am and is $15 per person. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place runners will receive Medals.Proceeds from this event will be donated to Baby Cal, a local boy who is fighting leukemia. Support this great cause and register today!

There will also be the 3rd Annual Cupcake Wars at the Happy Camp River Park during Bigfoot Jamboree. Come taste and vote for your favorite cupcake on Saturday, (9/5) at 1pm under the Pavilion. If cupcakes appeal to your sweet tooth, tasters will purchase a voting ticket for only $5 and receive a taste of each competitor’s cupcake. The baker with the most votes wins $100! There will be refreshments provided to go with the cupcakes: milk, iced tea and lemonade! Happy Camp has great bakers so be sure to sign up now in order to reserve your place in the competition. There are a limited number of entries available. Call Abby at 530-493-5400 if you don’t have access to the sign up form on line. Bakers must bake, frost and decorate thirty (30) cupcakes and bring them to the River Park Pavilion on Saturday (9/5) at 12:30pm. Bakers create a sign that displays the name of the cupcake and describe what kind of cupcake it is (batter, filling, frosting, etc.). Proceeds from this event will go towards the 2016 Kids Day. Support this wonderful event for our kids by participating in this event as a baker or a cupcake consumer!

The 2015 Lawn Mower Races at the Jamboree will begin on Saturday, September 5th at 6pm and the races continue on Sunday at 12:30pm put on by The State of Jefferson Mower Racing Club. The race track is located on the Northeast side of the River Park. These lawn mowers can reach speeds of 50 MPH! This is a great event for the entire family, don’t miss it!

Finally, the Coordinating Council is also looking for people qualified to be nightly park cleaning, nighttime park security, and daily road watering from the 4th to 6th of September. If you want the jobs, give the Coordinating Council a quote on what you’d charge. Also, if you want to have a booth, the charges are $30 for local non-profits, $40 for locals along the Klamath River Highway or $75 for non-local vendors. The application form is on the website.

Put on your thinking cap now and plan for a float in either the Individual, Organization or Business category for the Sunday parade as everyone lines up along Hwy 96 to see the floats. It may seem early for preparing for Bigfoot Jamboree, Labor Day Weekend, but my son told me there’s still time to get in shape for the 5K Run to help out Baby Cal as he fights leukemia!!

Parry’s 1st place Commercial or Business float.

Tapasarara float of karuk Tribe dancers won for Organizations.

by Judy Bushy
The Happy Camp Coordinating Council is to be commended for all the hard work and planning that goes into the Bigfoot Jamboree before it seems to always “just happen” on Labor Day weekend! Thank you to Linda Zink, Sammi Offield, Leonie Jacobson, Donna McCulley, Montine Blevins, and Savannah from the bank and to all the others who worked on various aspects of our Hometown Festival every Labor Day: Bigfoot jamboree!!!

The parade was wonderful. Bob Goodwin was the MC and then announced the awards down at the River Park. The judges were Bob Hokanson, Cheryl Scruggs and Gary Burnett’s sister, Terry.

In the Business or Commercial float category, third place was the Bigfoot Towing and Lawn Mower Races. You really have to see these Lawn Mower Races put on by the Outdoor Club! I heard that Aaron Martin won the race Saturday evening but, didn’t hear the outcome of the Sunday evening races. Bob threw in that he had taken his lawnmower to be repaired at Bigfoot Towing, but they didn’t get it going 70 mph mowing his lawn.

The second place Commercial float was a red truck driven by Bonnie Alvarez with red spots all over. It was the Ladybug Shuttle from Forest Lodge. They had antennae and red shirts with the black dots decorating! They had a great deal of fun too!!

First place in the Commercial floats was Parry’s Market and they stuck to the the theme, Generations. Their float showed the generation of the Roaring 20s! the newlyweds, Mary and Erik were on the float with my neighbor, Carol Day..

Third place for Organizations was the Old Volks & Folks from Grants Pass. They had half a dozen old Volkswagens that were in different shapes, one had a cute trailer, and one looked like a mini-“hummer”. So glad that they came over the mountain to help make our Bigfoot Jamboree so much fun!

Second place in Organization floats was the River Valley 4H clubs horsemanship project. They had beautiful horses to drive, ride or walk and the miniatures. There were even a few on the end with “ stick” horses.

First place for Organizations was the Karuk dancers, They had the word Pasarara on their float which I’ll have to look up in the Karuk Dictionary to see the meaning.

The Individual category trophy went to Kayla Whitehouse. She does a marvelous job with her baton twirling.

The grand prize for all of the floats and parade entries was Marbke Mountain Gift Company! there was a red head from I love Lucy!! There were characters from “Grease” also….(remember when Mr. Saler put on a production of Grease years ago in the late 80s)

Parry’s Market float. It was great with the newlyweds, Mary and Eric, and our neighbor Carol Day on the Roaring 20s float!

The singer, Lenny Green sang at the park after the awards were given. He sang such fun Bigfoot songs. His song about the Bigfoot Byway has become a well loved favorite! You can hear him sing this song at http://www.landofthebigfoot.com/byway.htm.