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The last weekend of July, Carolina Foothills in the Chesnee, SC area celebrates FrogFest. It has become an excuse for people to visit the park from all over the US and Canada. This year, the festival continues with lots of great people and good times July 27-29.
History behind Frog Fest
For those of you who don’t know the story, the reason behind Frog Fest, like any story that involves a frog, there’s only one way to begin. Once upon a time… but actually it was a Saturday afternoon in August of 2004, a little Indonesian girl by the name of Callista, who was just beginning to learn to swim and just starting to learn English, was using a float in the pool. This was not an ordinary float. This one was a green and yellow inflatable ring with big frog head on top - and a big happy face.
Well, as Callista was off taking a nap that afternoon, a beloved CFR lady member borrowed the frog float while partaking in conversations in the pool. All of a sudden there was an extremely loud “BOOM” that caught everyone’s attention. There was our member standing in the pool with a look of horror on her face. The head of the frog had blown off. Being the concerned adult who had just decapitated the head of a little girl’s frog float, she quickly placed the remains in the nearest trash container never to be mentioned again. Or so she thought!
The next morning the member’s husband stepped out of their camper to a horrific site. There was the head of the frog, stuffed, and mounted on a stick at the end of their porch facing their camper. It was like a scene from the Godfather. The member was called to the door by her husband to see what had been left her; the site left her speechless.
Having to face the situation, that lovely lady wore her guilt on her shoulder, well more accurately, she wore it on her neck in the form of a noose and a large sign that read “FK” for “Frog Killer.” For most the morning, golf carts drove by their place to see her standing by the road, head hung in shame, branded as the “Frog Killer.” Of course, it didn’t stop there!
Arriving at the pool later that morning, more awaited the lady. On the pool deck was the chalk outline of the frog that met its untimely death in the pool. To call attention to this site, the area was surrounded by crime scene tape, but the guilt really hit when Callista first uttered her first words in English, “Frog Keellah” …“Frog Keellah.” Laughter was continuous at the pool deck for a while, then things became more serious!
Just as things were about to quiet down around the pool deck, the weather had heated up. the sun was strong, and thoughts of lunch and cool beverages filled everyone’s minds. Just then, from the door of the clubhouse, emerged a Spartanburg County sheriff. Slowly, he made his way over to the lady at the pool deck eventually standing in front of her on the lounger.
“Come with me.” The officer stated firmly. The lady sat there in silence for a moment no doubt daydreaming of handcuffs and nude squad car rides and handcuffs. It was one of those painful moments – everyone else was laughing so hard and for so long, it hurt.
Shortly after that, some drifted away for lunch and eventually to pack and head home that Sunday afternoon, but it didn’t stop there. The next weekend the pool was full of frog floats. The “Frog Killer” and her husband were faced with frogs of all kinds on their yard. Every time they would leave their yard, someone else would sneak in and place more frogs in their yard. All weekend long it continued and for weekends to come, more frogs would appear.
And Callista…….. she would continue to practice her new found favorite English phrase “Frog Keellah.” To this day and not just on the special FrogFest weekend, you will see frogs decorating most every campsite at CFR. They represent a weekend where politics and petty issues were put aside. Family, unity, and most importantly fun became the focal point.
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