Donkey Basketball Raises Dollars For Jubilee

Tuolumne City, CA — Sunday’s Donkey Basketball match ups at Tuolumne Memorial Hall played out like a scene out of Hee-Haw. So, who played and who won?

The event, an annual fundraiser for the 66th Annual Tuolumne Lumber Jubilee, coming June 25-28, gave the Sonora Paramedics the opportunity to hand their California Highway Patrol rivals their second defeat in two years. Squads from Summerville and Sonora high schools were also pitted against each other, with Sonora emerging victorious. Sonora took down CHP in the final.

The event brought in about $1,100, down from last year, states event spokesperson Tara Varela. Funds, she says, are earmarked for such Jubilee expenses are t-shirt purchases, porta potty rentals, and live entertainment.

“Our only other fundraiser is going to be a pancake breakfast at Applebee’s on May 2nd from 8 to 10 a.m.,” Varela notes, as a community reminder. To view a short video from the event, click the video thumbnail in the upper left hand image box.

A throwback attraction that is still popular as an exhibition fundraising event for organizations, donkey basketball was created back in the 1930s Depression Era days as an inexpensive entertainment “sport.” Somewhat a contemporary, the first Lumber Jubilee was held to celebrate the re-opening of the mill following the Great Depression.