SeeCalifornia.com

While there’s a mellow side to Memorial Weekend in California you’ll find some craziness, as well. One of the fun traditions spanning decades and garnering international media attention along the way is Humboldt County’s Kinetic Grand Championship which celebrates its 50th anniversary on Memorial Weekend, May 25-27, 2019.

Having just celebrated with a Rutabaga Ball, the event looks forward to the unveiling of this year’s crop of creative art vehicles capable of traveling on land and sea. Day 1 includes Arcata – Samoa – Eureka. Day 2 (Sunday) goes from Eureka to Table Bluff, then Loleta. Day 3 on Monday heads from Loleta to Fernbridge, ending in Ferndale. One of the amazing aspects of this event was the creation of a permanent Kinetic Museum which is open in Eureka year round! If you miss the Memorial Weekend race, you can get a flavor of it any time when you visit the Redwood Coast.

In Coalinga, which gained unwanted fame for its 1983 earthquake felt from the Fresno County epicenter and Los Angeles to Susanville (550 miles), locals celebrate horned toads. On Memorial Weekend Coalinga Area Chamber of Commerce produces a fantastic Horned Toad Derby, now in its 82nd year. It gets the phone zombies off their personal devices, interacting in old-fashioned games such as watermelon seed spitting contest and sack races May 24-27.

A fairly new event but equally compelling and crazy for those who attend is San Jose’s FanimeCon. Guests like to come in costume and snap lots of selfies but upon arrival the event is all about entertainment and interaction. From speed dating sessions, to a music festival, swap meet, game show, masquerade, cosplay and autograph signings with famous creators and actors of the genre, there’s not time to rest during this action-packed four day event May 24-27.

These three California events are a tiny sampling of what fun you can find throughout the state.