Park your RV and pitch the tent for the kids at this year’s Huck Finn Jubilee, Father’s Day weekend, June 15-17 in Victorville.

The 36 year old self proclaimed “great American party” annually celebrates the life and times of Tom and Huck, Mark Twain’s storybook characters.

The Jubilee is held at the 800 acreMojaveNarrowsRegionalPark, near Route 66, inSouthern California. From Victorville, follow I-15 to theBear Valley Rd.exit. Drive east toRidgecrest Ave.and turn north three miles to18000 Yates Rdand the park. Unlike its high desert surroundings, The Narrows is an oasis bordering theMojaveRiverand resembles parkland near theMississippi River. Parking is free and camping is offered.

During the three day festival you can find games that include building river rafts, climbing a greased pole, searching for nickels in a haystack and tossing horseshoes. All are free to enter, and ribbons are given to winners.

There’s a Friday night barn in the mountain man village, a Huck Finn look-a-like contest on Saturday, and the Tom Sawyer Fence Painting Championship Sunday afternoon.

A crafts village offers items that are hand- made and uniquely American, and there are barbecue ribs, ice cream and corn on the cob in the Vittles village.

A Route66 Car Show offers pre-1982 show car entries one free admission with one paid when arriving Saturday and Sunday. The California State Arm Wrestling Championships and the Deering Banjo Championships both are held at noon on Saturday and offer t-shirts, trophies, titles, and cash as prizes.

Music continues into the evening, and all night picking parties are held in special campgrounds on the park. Named 2001 Bluegrass Event of the Year by the International bluegrass Music Association the Jubilee also provides many informal “chat sessions”, music workshops and band showcases that bring both artist and fan together.

Hot air balloons rise early each morning to give a bird’s eye view ofPelicanLakeand campgrounds inMojaveNarrows. The regional park offers fishing, horseback riding and water splash area.

Weekend camp arrivals are welcome and are available upon entering the park.

In Victorville and Hesperia, the Hawthorn Suites, Holton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn Express, the Courtyard by Marriott and Red Roof Inn offer special rates to Huck Finn visitors upon request. Youth ages 6 yrs thru 12 yrs. are admitted free to the Jubilee when hotel key is presented. Families can also camp at Mojave Narrows Regional Park campgrounds.

Tickets are now on sale and discounted until June 1. Camping with electrical hookup is readily available, and it’s not too early to get a reservation for this popular weekend festival. A three day admission with two nights camping package is $75. Youth ages 6 yrs. thru 12 yrs. is $20.

Jubilee hours are Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m.to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Daily admission is $20. Youth ages 6 yrs., thru 12 yrs. is $5. Children younger than 6 yrs. are free. Parking is also free.

Information, camping and tickets are available by calling 951-780-8810, or going to www.huckfinn.com.

Victorville is located in southern California along historic Route 66. Enjoying its 36th season, the Huck Finn Jubilee offers a great Father’s Day weekend get-a-way for families, RV enthusiast and vacation travelers.

Randy Sampias coordinates the tournament that returns Saturday June 16th to Mojave Narrows Regional Park. Nearly 100 contenders are expected to vie for the California title.  “Because it’s an open tournament, both amateurs and professionals can compete, “Sampias says. “The separate weight classes also allow everyone to enter on his own level and come out a state champion.”

Bruce Way, who appeared in the 1989 arm wrestling movie “Over the Top” starring Sylvester Stallone,, was among past year’s competitors. “The term arm wrestling is highly inaccurate, “states Way. “Your whole body’s involved.”
Success in arm wrestling demands more than strength. A clever arm wrestler combines speed, balance, physical and mental conditioning and knowledge of body leverage to defeat his opponents.

There are twelve classes offered for the men’s competition. Bantam, light, middle, light-heavy, heavy and super heavy weight for men’ right and left hand categories are available. Women can compete in a separate open class. Anyone 18 years and older can compete and details are available by calling Sampias at (760) 868-6835.

Weigh-in for the competition starts at 9 a.m. during the Jubilee. The tournament begins at noon in the Shed World Arena at Mojave Narrows Regional Park. There is an entry fee of $25. All contestants will receive Souvenir T-shirt of the competition, and trophies are awarded through 3rd place. The arm wrestling competition promises plenty of action for participants and spectators alike. It is one of the many activities planned during the weekend at Huck Finn’s 36th Jubilee.

Mark Twain may be best remembered for his classic novel Adventures Of  Huckleberry Finn first published in 1885. That book, jammed packed with controversial themes and memorable characters is considered the author’s greatest achievement. Ernest Hemmingway said of  Huck Finn – “it was the one book from which all modern American literature came.” The truth is that the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn may never have been written if its author had not first found a frog in Calaveras County, California! Interestingly, Calaveras is just a few counties away from Victorville where we celebrate The Huck Finn Jubilee each summer on Father’s Day weekend.
The birth of Mark Twain’s first published short story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was printed November 1865 in a New York Newspaper and quickly reprinted around the country. The name “Mark Twain” exploded onto the national scene and launched one of the most famous writing careers in American literature. Though Mark Twain later discounted his frog story as a “villainous backwoods sketch”, America quickly embraced it and its author and has ever since. On the lecture circuit Mark Twain would bring out a shortened version of   the frog tale to the delight of his loyal fans.

Today, Mike Randall as Mark Twain Live makes an exclusive Southern California appearance during the Huck Finn Jubilee. The one-man performance plans to address  various topics, including Bad Habits, Huck and Jim, A Ghost Story, and of course, the famous California frog.

Randall has been portraying Twain for 36 years with performances ranging from The State Department in Washington D.C. to New York City’s only dinner theater, “The Little Hippodrome”. He’s often been compared to Hal Holbrook, and reviews credit him for giving a breathtaking re-creation of America’s most famous humorist.

The Mark Twain Live performance is included in Friday’s Huck Finn Jubilee admission of $20 per adult; $5 youth (6 years through 12 yrs). Children under 6 and parking are free. The Jubilee takes place at Mojave Narrows Regional Park, 18000 Yates Rd in Victorville, California.

Other activities relating to Twain’s storybook characters and their antics that take place during this year’s Jubilee are Tom Sawyer’s Fence Painting Championships, river raft building, tomahawk throwing, frog jumping and Injun Joe’s Treasure Hunt. For Huck Finn and dozens of other stories and hundreds of wonderful characters created by Mark Twain, it’s not too much of a stretch to conclude that we owe a debt of gratitude to a California Frog?

For further information go to www.huckfinn.com or call 1-951-780-8810.

The Jubilee, held at Mojave Narrows Regional Park in Victorville each year, was one of three finalists for top bluegrass event of the year in the US. Other finalists included the “O Brother, Where Art Thou? “Concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City, NY and The Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival in Hyden, Kentucky.  Don Tucker, of D.V.T. Marketing Enterprises, Inc. which produced the Jubilee for the last 35 years expressed surprise and gratitude at the awards show noting that the festival has “…. raised families in the traditions of bluegrass music.”

Over the years the Jubilee has grown to include the top names in bluegrass music in addition to Country  headliners, camping, crafts and family activities. Today, the Father’s Day weekend event attracts visitors to Victorville from throughout Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

The Jubilee continues to expand, adding Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder and Rhonda Vincent, IBMA’s Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year, to its roster of artists. It is also planning to add a three-day music camp for anyone with a desire to learn to play bluegrass.

To learn more about the Jubilee, log on to its website at www.huckfinn.com. or call (951) 780-8810.