Residents of Oatman, where temperatures are set to reach 41 degrees today, will compete to see who can cook the most edible-looking egg.
The eggs are simultaneously cracked at noon and after 15 minutes a winner is declared.
Participants can use any solar means necessary including magnifying glasses or mirrors but no fire or electricity is allowed.
A scorching Arizona town is putting the old saying 'hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk' to the test.
In an unusual Fourth of July celebration, residents of dusty Oatman, where temperatures are predicted to reach 41 degrees today, will compete to see who can cook the most edible-looking egg.
At high noon, crowds line the streets and the eggs are simultaneously cracked. The 30 or so participants get cooking, using any solar means they choose, whether straight on the cement, or in a fry pan on the ground.
After 15 minutes, Fred Eck, the founder the bizarre tradition, declares the person behind the best-looking fried egg the winner.
The event then wraps up by 1 p.m.
'If we don't, everybody would pass out,' Eck, 69, told NBC News.
Entrants are banned from using fire and electricity to help cook their egg. But they can help the cooking process along with magnifying glasses, aluminum foil, and mirrors.
The eggs need to get to 70 degrees to fry and, despite the phrase, sidewalks are poor conductors of heat, rarely topping 62 degrees even in extreme conditions.
The event, which attracts 200-300 to the town with just 35 shops and a couple of bars and restaurants, began in 1991 during a heatwave and made headlines.
'People thought it was bad publicity for the area because it drew attention to the heat,' said Eck.
'No it isn't, it's who we are. We're in a desert!'
At first competitors were required to cook their eggs straight on the sidewalk, but the eggs just got stuck, Jackie Murphy, vice president of the Oatman Chamber of Commerce, told NBC.
Then they tried to use the highway as a cooking surface but everyone just got their hands and knees stuck in the bitumen.
'There are probably still knee prints down there,' Murphy said.
But now they've cracked it.
One regular contestant uses an oversize magnifying glass laid horizontally on rollers to cook to perfection not just eggs, but bacon and potatoes, thrilling onlookers.
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