Arizona town holds ‘hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk’ contest
While it sounds like a cliche, an Arizona desert town has turned “hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk” into a contest.
The heat wave has produced a high of 106 degrees and Oatman Arizona hosted their annual July 4th sidewalk egg frying competition.
High noon marked the beginning with 30 people competing with eggs on the sidewalk, eggs in frying pans and all sorts of variations to harness the sun’s power to cook up an egg.
The eggs need to get to 158 degrees to fry and, despite the phrase, sidewalks are poor conductors of heat, rarely topping 145 degrees even in extreme conditions. Electricity and flames are banned so contestants turn to magnifying glasses, foil and mirrors to boost the temperature.
The event, which attracts 200-300 to the town, which has just 35 shops and a couple of bars and restaurants, began in 1991 during a heatwave and made headlines.
The concept started in 1983 as a competition between the nearby communities of Laughlin, Nev., and Bullhead City, Ariz., during another local heat wave that made national headlines.
