By Jordan Studer
jstuder@wbcowqel.com
Despite the heat on Sunday afternoon, the amphibians hopping over to Lowe-Volk Park Nature Center were ready to compete. The second annual Frog Jumping Contest brought a lot of excitement to the afternoon.
Kids up to sixteen years of age were allowed to participate with their very own Ohio-native frogs that they had to provide. The goal of the contest was to see which frog could jump the farthest distance. In the center of the blue tarp that was set up there was a big yellow dot. Each participant was instructed to set their frog in the middle of that dot when their turn approached.
To measure the distance the frogs could jump, each frog was permitted three hops. The only stipulation was that after the frog was set down in the dot it was not allowed to be touched until it had completed its third hop or it would have to start over. If the frog just didn’t seem to want to move, the participant could do anything to get it to move besides touch it. Upon the third landing, the measurement took place and the amount was recorded.
Two brothers, David and Jax Rike were more than excited to let their prized frogs show off what they could do. The boys mentioned how they had a pond in their backyard where they caught both of their frogs. David explained that catching his bullfrog, named “Cam Newton” which was the biggest frog there, was very easy for him to do.
“Easy as pie! Our frogs are easy to catch!” David exclaimed.
As the contest began many other boys and girls gathered around the tarp with high hopes for their frogs. Most frogs were ready to go and jumped with ease. Some even continued right off the tarp, with a mass of laughter and little hands grabbing for them. Yet, a few were a little more stubborn, hopping right out of the grasp of their participants but sitting still when set on the tarp.
For the frogs that weren’t moving, participants had a total of three minutes to see if they could get their frog to budge. Hands were clapped, feet were stomped, and shouts were given to try and get the sluggish frogs to hop. If they had no luck, they were to take their frogs back and await the next round to see if their frog could make up for the lost time.
After three rounds of jumps, the longest jump of the rounds was tallied and the ornery frogs were finally all caught and put safely back. The top three places were awarded gift certificates for the gift shop inside the Lowe-Volk Park Nature Center.
Bringing home “all the flies” for first place and the largest awarded gift certificate was Luke Lawson and his frog “Pac-Man,” with a jump of over seven feet. When making a joke to Lawson that it must be the name that brought the frog to victory, Lawson replied with a smile.
“Pac-Man always wins unless I’m playing… (but) he did win today,” replied Lawson about the difference between playing the Pac-Man game and helping his frog “Pac-Man” compete.
At the end of the contest, head naturalist Josh Dyer made sure to encourage everyone to set their frogs free back out into the wild where they found them. When questioned by a participant why it was so important to return the frogs back to where they were found, Dyer gave a knowledgeable answer.
“Sometimes frogs carry diseases or fungus that one population might have and if you transfer or move that frog or toad into another population you hurt those other frogs, too. So always make sure you return them back,” Dyer explained.
To get involved in some of the future activities and events scheduled for this summer through the Crawford Park District, go check out their website http://www.crawfordparkdistrict.org/programsevents.html.