Logger Days begins Thursday in Libby

For the past four years, Hope Kirschenmann has offered her support to help organize and promote Libby Logger Days.

Although many others have been involved with the annual festival for many more years, Kirschenmann is well-versed when it comes to the meaning behind the celebration.

“My dad was a logger and that’s all I knew,” Kirschenmann said. “My husband still works in a sawmill.”

Old-time loggers in the community are aging and becoming fewer in number. And the younger loggers have been forced to take up a new trade. Some might say that’s even more of a reason to hold such an event – to keep those traditions alive while remembering Libby’s roots.

“There are a few … it’s been hard this year,” Kirschenmann said. “A lot of loggers are going different ways now.”

The Logger Days events have drawn several from outside of Libby.

“We get a lot of out-of-town people that come and do these events,” she said. “We have people from throughout the Northwest and our local guys that do it. It has dwindled a little bit and the loggers are getting older.”

The 51st version of Logger Days opens on Thursday at J. Neils Memorial Park with a fun lineup for the whole family. Kids will have the chance to put on hard hats and participate in a new event – the Little Logger Run – at 4:30 p.m. The water fights will follow at 6 for the kids and 7 for the adults.

“We have the fire engine and the fire hoses,” Kirschenmann said. “There will be teams of five people on each side. They each have a fire hose and a keg will be strung on a wire. They have to get it past the other team.”

Each team shoots the stream of water at the keg in an effort to win. Kirschenmann said they hope to have more teams participate this year. Last year, five or six teams competed.

The kids water fight involves a smaller hose and they aim the stream of water at a beach ball.

Another popular event begins at 7:30 p.m. with the lip sync contest. An event that had been done in the past but not in recent years is the Tug-of-War, which is scheduled to begin at 8.

Live music by White Hawk is slated to begin at 8:30 p.m. The band features Guthrie Quist, Halladay Quist (children of country performer Rob Quist) and Pat McKenna. The group plays some heavy metal and various other types of music.

The Paradise Carnival and the various food and merchant booths will be open all four days of the festival. Logger Days organizers made a point of bringing in a bigger and better carnival this year.

The carnival as well as the food and merchant booths open at 5 p.m. on Thursday, 11 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon on Sunday. Kirschenmann said this year’s lineup of vendors is bigger than last year. Varieties of food include burgers, hot dogs, Mexican and German – just to name a few.

A beer garden will also be operated with opening times of 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, 5 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday.

Friday gets started a bit earlier with the carnival and booths at 11 with the activities beginning at 5. The kids logging events will be staged at that time and the ever-popular Bull of the Woods follows at 7.

“We really get a large crowd for that,” Kirschenmann said about Bull of the woods.

Competitors stand on a log and attempt to knock off their opponent while staying on their side of a line. County commissioner Tony Berget was champion for several years until he decided to retire from the event. Last year, local resident Mort Curtiss won the title.

The queen coronation will also be held at 7 p.m. and live music with the Copper Mountain Band begins at 8:30. The Troy-based group features Jacque Jolene on lead vocals, Israel David on vocals and guitar, Shawn Tong on lead guitar, Nate Norman on bass and Casey Mann on drums.

The Logger Days fireworks are scheduled to begin at dusk.

Saturday’s activities will begin bright and early with another new addition – the 5K/10K Fun Run for Health. A local running group along with health organizations put together the event. For those who aren’t up to running, the 5K walk is available.

The adult logging preliminaries also begin at 8 a.m. and parade participants will begin to lineup at 8:30. Not long after the Fun Run wraps up, the parade will get started. Its official start time is 10 a.m. and it will proceed down Mineral Avenue.

After the carnival and booths open at 11, the kids can take part in the pingpong ball drop at noon. In that event, pingpong balls are dropped from a bucket truck and kids can win prizes of they have lucky numbers.

The adult logging events also begin at noon. To get the full feel and flavor of why Logger Days exists, festival-goers will want to watch these rugged events.

Kirschenmann’s favorite is donut stacking.

“They have a log and have to saw it off and stack them on a stump,” she said. “They can’t touch it with their hands, can’t let it fall.”

Besides donut stacking, other events include the PeeVee log roll, axe throw, men’s single buck, vertical chop, Jack and Jill double buck, hot saw exhibition, choker setting, women’s double buck, stock saw, horizontal chop, four-man relay, log truck wrapping, log loader contest, Ma and Pa relay, men’s double buck and spring board chopping.

At 7:30 p.m., a lawnmower races exhibition will be staged. Kirschenmann hopes it will become a regular event in the future. The lawnmowers are not the same type that you see cutting grass around Libby and Troy. Instead, they’re souped up – fast, loud and low to the ground.

“They’re from Idaho and they’ll be here to show how you do it,” she said. “Hopefully next year we can get together and maybe get people for races.”

On Sunday, the Logger Brunch will begin at 11 a.m., and the carnival and booths run from noon-5 p.m.

Another event for children – the Kids Sawdust Pile – will be staged at 1:30 p.m. In this event, children in different age groups will search for money in a roped-off pile of sawdust. A raffle for a new ATV will follow at 2 p.m.