Lumberjack World Championships

Lumberjack World Championships

Last weekend in July

At the turn of the century Hayward, Wisconsin, was one of the most active logging towns in the northern United States. Nowadays Hayward is known primarily as the site of the largest lumberjack competition in the country. Lumberjacks and logrollers from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, England, and the United States come to Hayward to compete in one- and two-man buck sawing, power sawing, a variety of chopping events, and the speed climbing contest, where loggers climb up and down a 90-foot fir pole in less than 30 seconds. There is also a lumberjack relay race, with teams consisting of one speed climber, one "river pig" (logroller), two-man crosscut saw partners, and one standing-cut chopper.
The three-day event takes place at the end of July in the Lumberjack Bowl, a large bay of Lake Hayward that was once used as a giant holding pond for the North Wisconsin Lumber Company and is now used for the World Logrolling Championships. The sport of "birling" or logrolling originated in New England and then moved west. Lumberjacks in overalls, woolen shirts, and high boots learned to maneuver a floating carpet of logs, using their pike poles to break up log jams. A working skill soon became a pastime and then a sporting event. Today's competitors dress in shorts and t-shirts or bathing suits and wear special birling shoes. Competitors stand on a floating log and try to roll each other off balance and into the water.

CONTACTS:
Lumberjack World Championships
P.O. Box 666
Hayward, WI 54843
715-634-2484; fax: 715-934-2359
www.lumberjackworldchampionships.com

SOURCES:
GdUSFest-1984, p. 211

Celebration days:
2011: Jul 30; Jul 31
2012: Jul 28; Jul 29
2013: Jul 27; Jul 28
2014: Jul 26; Jul 27
2015: Jul 25; Jul 26