California's Ten Wackiest Annual Events

California, in case you haven't heard, can be a kooky place. After all, strangeness is one of the Left Coast's most appealing qualities. The yearly festivities listed here —which hold their own on the annual statewide calendar next to such respected traditions as the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Monterey Jazz Festival — throw reserve to the wind and allow you to join in the nutty fun. Or you're welcome to just point and hoot from the sidelines, if you prefer.

Peg Leg Smith's Liars Contest

This tall-tale-telling competition (held the Saturday nearest to April Fool's Day, of course) is the legacy of wooden-limbed yarn-spinner Thomas Long "Peg Leg" Smith, who, in 1829 or thereabouts (dates tended to be somewhat fluid in Peg Leg's world), found a few gold-specked rocks in the desert. Rather than actually looking for more, Peg Leg spent the next 35 years weaving an increasingly Bunyan-like tale about his lost Borrego Springs gold mine into Old West legend.

Storytellers and listeners make the trek to Borrego Springs in San Diego County. The annual gathering at the Peg Leg Monument in Anza Borrego Desert State Park honors Peg Leg's chutzpah. You're welcome to join the fun around the campfire and just listen or do some spinning yourself, as long as your tale has something to do with gold mining in the Southwest, doesn't last longer than five minutes, and contains nothing that any reasonable listener may actually mistake for the truth.

Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee

Inspired by Mark Twain's joyful short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," this yearly competition (held the third weekend in May) is the Olympics of frog jumping. Really. Frog jockeys (yep, that's what they're called) converge on Angels Camp in California's Gold Country from all over the globe with their lean 'n' mean amphibians in tow, competing for cash prizes as large as 5,000 smackeroos.

Ferndale Cross-Country Kinetic Sculpture Race

One of the country's coolest annual events is this ingenious race. Each Memorial Day weekend, wild and crazy people in wild and crazy people-powered sculptures race for 3 days and 38 miles across land, sand, and sea, from Arcata to the Victorian-cute town of Ferndale, in the Redwood Country's Humboldt County.

The mobile art must be entirely people powered, must measure no more than 8 by 14 feet, and cannot be inherently dangerous to driver or spectator. Otherwise, anything goes and usually does; in the 30-plus-year history of the race, contraptions have ranged from giant watermelons to amphibious armadillos.

International Worm Races

Launched in 1966 by a descendant of Mark Twain, this hugely popular event wins first prize for sheer ridiculousness. The "race" track is a 4-foot-square board with a 2-foot target painted on it. Two to five worms — either night crawlers or reds — are placed on the bull's-eye, and the first to inch its way across the edge of the outer circle wins. The day's grand champion wins a $500 cash prize (which begs the question, what do worms do with money, anyway?).

The ultimate worm-on-worm challenge takes place at Redbud Park in Clearlake (north of Napa Valley) immediately following the annual Lions Club Fourth of July Parade. Don't have your own red worm or night crawler to enter? No problem! You can rent fully trained worms from the worm "stable" (whatever that is) just prior to race time.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

The city of Gilroy (east of Santa Cruz and south of San Jose) proclaims itself the Garlic Capital of the World and celebrates its cash crop with this ultra-stinky food fest. This is one of the biggest, best, and most well-attended food festivals in the entire Golden State, ideal for garlic addicts (and you know whether you are). In addition to garlicky eats from all over the culinary map — garlic ice cream, yum! — the late-July festival features arts-and-crafts vendors, live bands, the Miss Gilroy Garlic pageant (a dubious honor if ever there was one), and a Listerine table (just kidding). Attention, cooks: Enter the Great Garlic Cook-off, and you could go home a thousand bucks richer.

Pageant of the Masters

Think The Last Supper was too flat, the Mona Lisa too stiff, The Blue Boy a tad too, well, two-dimensional? Then this is the event for you. Watch master artworks spring to life in this truly bizarre yet awe-inspiring performance-art gala, first launched in artsy Laguna Beach in 1932 and going strong ever since. This very serious affair (it runs through most of July and August) features trained actors working on intricate artist-designed sets to create living, breathing tableaux that remain remarkably faithful to the original, with dramatic narration and full orchestral accompaniment in a lovely alfresco setting. This pageant is fantastic, in the truest sense of the word.

You can, and should, order your pageant tickets way in advance by calling 800-487-3378 or 949-497-6582. Come early in the day so you can also enjoy the Festival of the Arts, an outdoor art show featuring first-rate artists working in all media.

U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition

What's more fun than sandcastles? Nothing — especially when they're astoundingly complex, larger-than-life sand sculptures of everything from Noah's Ark to lobsters (complete with melted butter- and lemon-shaped sand on the side) to scenes from the San Diego skyline. This world-class competition in Imperial Beach (south of San Diego) may be the best of California's many beach events — the huge crowds think so. The throng comes out in full force not only for the main competition but also for the pancake breakfasts, food and music vendors, parade, and kids' sandcastle-building competition. Even if you don't make it for the actual event in July, you may be able to view the leftovers in the weeks that follow — as long as rain doesn't wash 'em away, that is.

Underwater Pumpkin-Carving Contest

Underwater pumpkin carving seems even a couple of notches less practical than underwater basket weaving, yet plenty of sporting divers have turned up in La Jolla for this 20-plus-year-old Halloween event each year. Nobody takes it very seriously — one year the panel of judges was the staff of a local dive shop, the next year five kids off the beach — but it's always a fun party, and the surfacing jack-o'-lanterns are mighty impressive. Even though the bulk of the action takes place below sea level, the event is still fun to watch.

Weed Show

No, this festival doesn't focus on that kind of weed. Still, you'll think the locals have been smokin' it, what with the mind-boggling sculptures they create in the name of art using found objects and, yes, weeds. Lest you think this desert event (held in the vicinity of Joshua Tree National Park), sponsored by the Twentynine Palms Historical Society, is small potatoes, think again: More than 250 entries are usually up for critique in multiple-judged categories during this weekend-long event in early November.

Doo Dah Parade

This outrageous Thanksgiving-weekend event — referred to in host Pasadena as the "other" parade — is a zany spoof of the city's Tournament of Roses promenade. Doo Dah has since grown into a left-of-center institution all its own, but age hasn't cost it an ounce of silliness.

Participants usually include the Synchronized Precision Briefcase Drill Team (whose twirling skills are unparalleled), drag queen cheerleaders (representing West Hollywood, of course), the BBQ and Hibachi Marching Grill Team, and many more — plenty to make the Ministry of Silly Walks mighty proud. Radio personality Dr. Demento often serves as Master of Ceremonies. The ashes of one longtime fan have been crowned DooDah Queen in Perpetuity, and they ride on their own float. You get the idea. But be aware that the traditional throwing of tortillas at participants has been discouraged. Spoilsports.