Every Fourth of July, instead of bowing to firecracker hot temperatures that might deter visitors, Oatman, Arizona, embraces the staggering heat. Independence Day heralds the town’s annual Sidewalk Egg-Fry competition.

Contestants display ample creativity in their cooking methods. Some preheat their cast-iron skillets in the desert sun or trap hot air radiating from the sidewalk with a box covered with plastic wrap. Challengers from as far away as New York and Canada use magnifying glasses and reflectors with mixed results in the anything-goes contest.

But this unusual contest has an unusual problem—wild burros, descended from those left behind by gold mining prospectors in Mohave County, are welcome guests in Oatman, and they sometimes walk on the sidewalk stove. Jack, Strawberry, Jessie, and a half-dozen other burros move freely along the streets and sidewalks and even take cover in the shade to watch the 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. gunfight reenactments. Burros have the right-of-way in Oatman, and few motorists seem to mind when traffic backs up because of a stalled donkey. However, a burro on the egg-frying “stove” cannot be tolerated, and organizers encourage the slow-moving creatures to move on.

The town’s 150 residents, give or take a few, happily accommodate the burros and tourists but also maintain their close-knit community. Once a bustling town of 3,500, the town has weathered three major fires, mine closings, and the building of Interstate 40, which drew traffic off Route 66 that runs through town.

About a half-million visitors tour the shops and mines of Oatman each year. Some book a room in the 1902 Oatman Hotel, where movie stars Carole Lombard and Clark Gable stayed after they were married in Kingman, about twenty miles northeast, in 1939. eventually, the tourists drive off on Route 66, now designated both a historic and a scenic route.

The annual egg-fry isn’t the only big draw to Oatman—named for Olive Oatman, who, in 1851 at age thirteen, survived after being kidnapped by Yavapai Indians. The town also touts bed races in January and the Christmas Bush Festival in December.

For more information about the egg-fry competition, log on to www.oatmangoldroad.com.

Terri Likens is a freelance writer from Flagstaff, Arizona.

Copyright © 2006 Publishing Group of America, Inc. Published by Rutledge Hill Press, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.