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Photos: Johnny Appleseed at Johnny Applesed Days in Paradise, Huck Finn at Victorville’s Jubilee and Paul Bunyan in Fort Bragg

For those who love fantasy, there are plenty of festivals and fairs to transport you to other places, times and dimensions. Renaissance festivals, pirate festivals, Halloween haunts and even Santa Claus are among the top celebrations the public loves. Here are some fantasy events in California:

• HUCK FINN – One of the most popular summer themes is Huck Finn. You’ll find Victorville’s Huck Finn Jubilee, Angel Camp’s Jumping From Jubilee of Calaveras County, and Huntington Beach’s Huck Finn Fishing Derby all offer country flavor and old time simplicity appealing to all ages.  The  youthful adventurer who never seems to age would be approx. 140 years old if alive today. We celebrate the Huck story with jumping frog contests, raft races, fence painting, and dressing our kids in tattered jeans overalls, sling shot in the pocket.  Real or not? NOT
• PAUL BUNYAN – This big lumberjack and Babe the Blue Ox grew out of Canadian folk tales. On Labor Day weekend September 1-3, 2012  Fort Bragg hosts  Paul Bunyan Days celebration that includes a 20′ Axe Throw, Hand Chopping and Chain Saw Bucking contests. Real or not? NOT
• BIGFOOT – Bigfoot Days September 1, 2012 in Willow Creek celebrates the big hairy ape called Sasquatch or Bigfoot.  Real or not? NOT SURE
• JOHNNY APPLESEED – Johnny Appleseed Days Oct.6-7, 2012 in the town of Paradise includes over 1,000 apple pies and ice cream sold to hungry festival goers. Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees throughout the Midwest. Real or not? REAL
• CHARLES DICKENS – The British Victorian era writer and social critic created some of the world’s most memorable fictional characters. Real or not? REAL
  1.  The Great Dickens Christmas Fair November 23 – December 23, 2012 at Cow Palace in San Francisco is a Victorian Christmas Card which comes to life five weekends.
  2.  Riverside Dickens Festival  February 2-3, 2013, dickensfest.com.