PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Thank you so much.
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SAGAL: Thank you, guys. Right now, it's time for the WAIT WAIT ...DON'T TELL ME Bluff the Listener game. Called 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game on the air. Hi, you're on WAIT WAIT ...DON'T TELL ME.
BRIAN PEACH: Hi there this is Brian Peach. I'm calling from Hershey, Pa.
SAGAL: Hershey, Pa.,famous for - I can't remember. Do you work at the big chocolate company, there in Hershey?
PEACH: No, but I do - I think it's, coincidentally, I live on Cocoa Avenue.
SAGAL: Do you really? Are all the streets named for ingredients in chocolate?
PEACH: Some of them are and the streetlights are lined on top with giant Hershey's kisses.
SAGAL: Wow. Well, welcome to our show, Brian. You're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Brian's topic?
BILL KURTIS, BYLINE: Happy birthday, Ramygala.
SAGAL: This week, the town of Ramygala in Lithuania celebrated its 645th anniversary. But, instead of parades and streamers, town officials organized a different kind of celebration for this big birthday. Our panelists are going to tell you about what they did. Only one of them, though, of course, is telling the truth. Guess that true story - you'll win Carl Kasell's voice on your voicemail. Are you ready to do this?
PEACH: I have never been readier.
SAGAL: OK. Let's hear the first story of the 645th birthday of Ramygala from Alonzo Bodden.
ALONZO BODDEN: Ramygala, Lithuania is a town with a lot of rocks. There are more rocks than people. That's why, every year, the anniversary of Ramygala is celebrated with an uphill rock race. Groups of men form teams to push boulders weighing hundreds pounds, up a hill. The danger being, if a man tires or trips or the team loses control, the rock may begin rolling downhill, fast, which is really exciting for the people of Ramygala.
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BODDEN: The rock may not only hit the team pushing it, but may bounce around, crashing into other rocks, making loud noises and taking them out like a pool table. Teams train all year for rock day and some have been competing for years. There've been some modern training methods added, but Olev Kubjornsen (ph), a team captain and two-time champ, scoffs at the cardio machines and other training tools. The only way to learn to push a rock is by pushing a rock, he laughed.
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BODDEN: At the end of the race, a new champion is crowned, the teams all roll their boulders back down the hill, crashing into other rocks in the ancient way and a feast is had by all; a feast of rock soup.
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SAGAL: They're pushing rocks uphill, Sisyphus-like, in Ramygala to celebrate the birthday. Your next story of anniversaries celebrated Lithuanian style comes from Paula Poundstone.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: On the occasion of an important anniversary, people reflect on their past. Some couples renew their vows or climb a mountain or jump out of a plane. To celebrate their 645th year anniversary, the Lithuanian village of Ramygala had a goat beauty contest.
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POUNDSTONE: Although it is difficult to get a goat into a bathing suit...
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POUNDSTONE: ...The people of Ramygala feel it is well worth the effort. Contest organizer Loretta Kobelavinni (ph) says the event is called the goat parade and that after they select the most beautiful goat, the goat will then be crowned. Many Ramygalians own goats. They are a symbol of the country so some people feel the beauty contest is openly goat-ist and would like to see the judging go beyond the beard and cloven foot to include more of the goat's depth, like asking them where in the field they like to sit or how many times a day they like to eat and whether or not they would like world peace. Goat Marce was this year's proud winner, and he looks forward to eating the ribbon at as many grocery store openings as he can during his reign.
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SAGAL: A goat beauty contest to celebrate the anniversary.
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SAGAL: Your last story of a gala in Ramygala comes from Maz Jobrani.
MAZ JOBRANI: The Lithuanian village of Ramygala was looking for a fun way to celebrate turning 645-years-old. That's when the organizing committee, which consisted of 12 parents of young children, suggested setting up a giant bouncy castle for all the villagers to bounce on 645 times each. The only problem was that all the bouncies near the village had already been rented out. So, in an effort to build their own bouncy, the committee stormed the oldest castle in the village and laid out mattresses in every room, giving all the citizens of Ramygala the chance to bounce 'til they dropped. And dropped they did. While the younger Ramygalians were able to bounce 'til sundown, the older ones had some problems. Eighty-four-year-old Aldona Augustus (ph) stated, I had no business jumping up and down on stupid mattress. Mattress is for sleeping on, not for jumping on. Give me a Vicodin.
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JOBRANI: However, the organizers stood by their decision, pointing out how well the kids of the village slept that night. Bronis Slovisbroneus (ph), who headed up the committee, whispered, my children are still sleeping from two nights ago. We should celebrate like this more often. I think maybe tonight I finally have time to make love to my wife.
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SAGAL: All right. Now then, this much we know. There is a town called Ramygala - it's in Lithuania. It's 645 years old. But to celebrate their anniversary, they did which of these? Was it, from Alonzo Bodden, they pushed rocks uphill in the standard manner of their ancestors? From Paula Poundstone, did they hold a glamorous goat beauty contest? Or, from Maz Jobrani, did they set up a bouncy castle with mattresses in a castle, which kind of exhausted everybody? Sometimes to good effect. Which of these is the real story?
PEACH: It's a little known fact that Hershey's chocolate is made out of goat milk. So I'm going to go with the goat beauty pageant.
SAGAL: You're going to go to goat beauty pageant and slander Hershey, the nation - your region's largest employer along the way. That's fine, you do that. You're going to choose Paula's story of the goat beauty contest. Well, we actually - to bring you the correct answer - spoke to someone involved in the true story.
(SOUNDBITE OF GOATS)
SAGAL: That was the sound...
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SAGAL: ...Of some very glamorous goats. We don't know whether or not those were the goats that won the glamorous goat competition in Ramygala, but they sounded beautiful. So, congratulations you got it right. Paula was telling the truth. You have won our prize and a point for Paula. That means that Carl Kasell will record a greeting on your voicemail. Well done, sir. Thank you for playing with us today.
PEACH: Thank you.
SAGAL: Bye-bye.
(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.