VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. — Happy Hump day!
In this case, I mean it literally.
Camels are taking over the streets of the historic mining town Virginia City, Nev., for the annual International Camel & Ostrich Races. When you arrive to this quaint town, you'll step back in time. It has an old west feel, complete with a saloon, wooden boardwalk and even cowboys.
On the first weekend of September, a rather unique three-day event comes to town, and this year marks a special time for this spectacle.
"It's hump day and we are celebrating our 60th year of racing camels and ostriches,” Denny Dotson, a Virginia City resident, explained.
The odd tradition started in 1959. The local newspaper was having a slow day so they wrote a fictional story about racing camels.
“The San Francisco Chronicle picked it up and as a joke they brought a camel down," Dotson said.
A fictional event for laughs became reality, and every year it attracts nearly 100,000 people.
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If you come early to the races, there is a chance you can receive a lesson and potentially race. The race is not complicated. Camel jockeys do their best to steer their animal around a special shaped track. First one to the end wins bragging rights.
“This is not a rinky dink event. We got rookies, but some people been doing this for 25 years,” Camel expert Monty McClurgen said.
If camel racing wasn’t wacky enough, there's also ostrich racing. The ostrich race is more of a side show. The camels are the main event and the animals are highly revered.
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