Caelin Bragg
Advertising & Distribution Manager
Featured at the State Fair was the daily Timberworks Lumberjack Show, a competition between two of many lumberjacks in a variety of events.
The day I went to the show it featured lumberjacks Logan Alden and Zachary Ray (Zach) as the competitors. Both halves of the crowd were sectioned to cheer for their lumberjacks respectively, or chastise the opposing side. In total, they competed in seven events and one bonus halfway into the show.
Starting the show was the “single buck” event. Each lumberjack was given a two-man saw (also referred to as a misery whip), and they were given the task of sawing through an entire log single-handed. Zach and Logan remained neck-and-neck throughout the entire event, but my section’s man, Zach, was able to squeak out the victory.
The next events were the axe throw and underhand chop. Due to an unfortunate miss-throw at the start, Zach loss the axe throw to Logan by five points. The underhand chop is where the lumberjacks stand on the logs and cut the log in half with an axe, and Zach took an early lead and kept it through to the end.
The fourth event was a relay race that was complicated enough that the announcer just let the event do the talking, which Logan pulled through with the win. The fifth event was similar to the first, except super-charged with power saws and three cuts instead of one. Zach handily won, leaving the competition 3-2 in Zach’s favor.
We took a brief intermission as Zach and Logan showed off their impressive skills at carving a log of wood into a bunny in a comedic back-and forth before eventually fashioning the bunny carving into a chair that was handed to a child in the audience as a souvenir.
After the intermission ended, the lumberjacks returned to competing with the speed climb event. Both lumberjacks tied themselves to the poles situated on each side of the stage and climbed them at breakneck speeds. Zach had a misstep halfway up the pole, which caused him to fall behind and was not able to catch up, giving Logan the win.
Ending the show was a best of three in the logrolling competition where Zach and Logan had to balance on the same log in a pool of water while trying to make the other fall off. Zach and Logan traded the first two rounds and the entire show came down to the last round. In what was a hard-fought and loud final round, Zach was the first to give and Logan was named that day’s winner at 4-3.
The entire show was entertaining as it was suspenseful. The Timberworks Lumberjack show does events all throughout United States and even beyond, and I would recommend anyone watch it if they are within the area.