Logger Days Festival - South Fork, Colorado

Since we stayed in South Form for an extra week, we got to attend their annual Logger Days Festival on Saturday and Sunday.  It was a scaled down version of the national championships we have seen on television, but we really enjoyed watching the different events.

The first event was the bucking saw competition which uses a six foot crosscut saw to slice through a horizontally fastened log.  It takes hours of practice to learn the art of stroking a six foot saw back and forth through a log without buckling it.  This competition was obviously open also to women.  The guy standing over the cut is putting a lubricant directly on the saw to make the cut smoother.

 Next was the double buck competition, where two sawyers work together as a team.  Again, a lubricator was allowed, and this was the Jack and Jack competition since there was a guy on each end of the saw.

There weren't enough female sawyers to make up all the teams, so they recruited a local to finish out this Jill and Jill team.  This local just happened to be the owner of Aspen Ridge RV Park where we are staying.  Candice, pictured below in the yellow t-shirt, was a very active volunteer at the festival.  We also found her to be a very good novice lumberjill.

 Obstacle courses and races also added points towards the overall competitor status.

The Logger's Festival also included the axe throw, where we managed to get a picture of a bull's eye throw. 

There were also chainsaw competitions in which the lumberjack (or jill) had to make a cut down and then a cut back up, both within a lined limit from the end of the log.  As you can tell from this picture, there aren't age limits on this sport.  This lumberjill had almost as much gray hair as Denisa.

Most of the chainsaw competition was limited to a certain size motor and configuration.  But there was also an open saw division that would allow you to use any motor that could be attached to a chainsaw and carried into the field.  Mark caught this souped up chainsaw as the slice of wood fell from the log.

Another competition was the Horizontal Chop.  Using a single bit axe, lumberjacks must chop through a horizontal aspen log while standing on it.  Denisa was glad to see metal protectors for feet since she really didn't want to see a foot chopped off.

The organizers of the festival also planned activities for the children.  The pony rides were popular.  But in keeping with the theme, there was a saw dust hunt.  Hidden within the pile were prizes and coins.

If we got tired of watching the contestants make sawdust in varying ways, there were also vender booths to explore.  There was food and jewelry, but we didn't buy anything.  But we have to include a picture of a chainsaw artist as he whittled a bear out of of log.  We had giggled when we saw this same guy when we were in Durango with Connie and Steven a week ago.  He was a little hard to miss with that ten foot cowboy riding in his pickup.

The final event was limited to the contestants that had accrued the most points.  Points earned in all the events throughout the two days were totaled and the top 6 were each assigned one of the poles.  Their goal was to fell that long pole, trying to smash a pop can set on the ground.  Here's a pole going down as the crowd yelled, "Timberrrrrrr!"

But the guy that won the entire competition would also nail that pop can.  You can see that bright green can on the ground right before the pole flattened it.

Another Logger's Day Festival for South Fork was a smashing success!