Nevada Staged a Sixty Seventh Year of Camel and Ostrich Racing at an Event That Began as a Newspaper Hoax
Camels, ostriches, zebras and emus raced over three days in Virginia City, in a competition invented by a local paper as a prank in 1959.
Virginia City in Nevada staged the 67th International Camel and Ostrich Races from 11 to 13 September 2026, running camels, ostriches, zebras and emus at the Virginia City Arena and Fairgrounds.
The races exist because of a prank. In 1959 the town's newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise, printed a fabricated story about camel races as part of a running joke war with the San Francisco Chronicle. The following year the paper borrowed camels from the San Francisco Zoo and staged the races for real, and they have been held annually since.
Four race shows were held across the three days. Hot Camel Nights opened proceedings on the Friday evening at five o'clock, with shows at ten in the morning and two in the afternoon on the Saturday and a Family Day session at noon on the Sunday. The animals are ridden by a mixture of professional and amateur jockeys.
A street parade called Camel Hump to C Street ran twice on the Saturday, at half past twelve and half past one. On the Sunday the first hundred children through the gates were given free camel rides.
Seating ran from open grandstand places to air-conditioned boxes with tables and bars, and free shuttles linked the fairgrounds to the town centre. Spectators were asked to leave pets, umbrellas and outside food and drink at home, with service animals the only exception. The event is organised by the Virginia City Tourism Commission.