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Secession Days – Last Sunday in June roughandreadychamber.com

Rough and Ready, Calif. —  Secession Days on the last Sunday in June is a fun pre-4th of July celebration with food and entertainment from 7am- 3pm. The day starts with a Pancake Breakfast to raise funds for the Rough and Ready Volunteer Fire Department. The Town Blacksmith fires up the forge in the Blacksmith Shop, and the Fruit Jar Pickers old-time band play their special brand of music. The highlight of the day is the annual musical/melodrama “The Saga of Rough and Ready” performed live on stage, depicting the events leading up to the town’s decision to leave the Union.

On April 7, 1850, the town of Rough and Ready, angered at the lack of law and order, and the passage of a new mining tax, voted to secede from the Union and form the Great Republic of Rough and Ready. The Republic lasted less than 3 months when, the story goes, Nevada City refused to sell the  foreign miners liquor! The town gathered again and decided to re-join the Union…just in time for the 4th of July celebration.