Chicken Wing just wouldn’t hop.
No matter what Keeli Ford did, she couldn’t get the little guy to move. She rapidly pounded her fists on the grass behind him, she blew on his back, she begged Chicken Wing to move.
But Chicken Wing the frog had stage fright.
Ford and her frog Chicken Wing were one of more than two dozen competitors Saturday morning in the Lake County Fair’s annual Frog Jump. Kids ages 16 and under and their frogs competed to see which amphibian would hop the farthest.
Each contestant stepped into the middle of a large circle painted on the grass. There, the kids set their frogs down, and each frog would have 30 seconds to hop three times in the circle. The distance of the third hop was measured by Lake County Fair Board member Michael Fraley.
Kids could stomp their feet, spray their frogs with water, shout at them — they could use any means to make their frogs move except touch them. While Chicken Wing may have been frozen, other frogs made a break for it, the kids shrieking with delight as they tried to catch the slippery critters with nets.
Many of the kids brought their own frogs with them to the fair, while others got loans from the Conservation building. Folks like Crown Point resident Amber Cole and her son David spent the night before hunting for frogs in the woods. And with their flashlights and fishing poles, they caught a lot of frogs — Cole had to make sure there was enough for her seven kids.
David caught four frogs himself, and he was very excited for his frog, King, to compete. King would hop about nine feet, a fairly good showing. David said the secret to getting the frog to hop far is to spray it with swamp water rather than regular tap water.
Cole came to the fair with her kids and her mother, Sandy Jansson. The Cole family were wearing matching orange Frog Jump t-shirts from years past. The family has been coming to the fair and participating in the Frog Jump for more than 20 years. Jansson would take Cole to the fair, and now she takes her own kids.
“When I was a kid, I just did (the Frog Jump) because I wanted to win some prize money,” Cole said. “Now it’s something we do every year as a family, a fun tradition we have.”
Nowadays, the kids don’t win prize money, but the five kids whose frogs hopped the farthest all won a trophy. Additionally, the top three got gummy frog candy, and the winner earned a frog carrier.
Crown Point resident Jack Wise, 6, took first place. His frog, John, named after a family friend who owned the pond where the frog was caught, hopped 11 feet and 11 inches.
Jack’s mother, Ashley Wise, brought him and his brother James to the fair that day, where they competed in their first ever Frog Jump. Like the Cole family, Wise and her sons went out the night before with their flashlights and their nets to catch some frogs for the contest. The family quietly searched the pond, and when they found a frog as they shined the light in its eyes, causing the frogs to freeze and allowing them to nab it.
The Wise family comes to the Lake County Fair every year, and the kids were very excited to participate in their first Frog Jump. Jack said the best part for him was that he was able to win a trophy.
“I’m just glad there’s events like this that I can take my kids to,” Wise said. “It’s something for them to look forward to — they’ve been talking about catching frogs all week.”
Jared Quigg is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
