Paul Bunyan Show

Paul Bunyan Show

First full weekend in October

Paul Bunyan is the mythical hero of lumberjacks in the United States, and many tall tales have been passed down about his adventures with Babe the Blue Ox and Johnny Inkslinger. Among other things, these tales describe how he created Puget Sound and the Grand Canyon, and how his hotcake griddle was so large that it had to be greased by men using sides of bacon for skates. The first Bunyan stories were published in 1910, and within 15 years he had become a national legend.
Since 1952 the Paul Bunyan Festival, sponsored jointly by the Ohio Forestry Association and Hocking College in Nelsonville (which grants a degree in forestry) has focused on wood products and forestry conservation. It is the lumber industry's opportunity to familiarize visitors with the journey wood takes from the forest to finished products and an opportunity for both professional and student lumberjacks to test their skills in chopping and sawing. Teams of draft horses compete in a log-skidding contest—an operation that is performed today by heavy machines—and turn-of-the-century steam logging equipment is on display. Billed as the largest live forestry exposition in the East, the show gives visitors an opportunity to see both traditional and modern logging techniques in action.

CONTACTS:
Hocking College
3301 Hocking Pkwy.
Nelsonville, OH 45764
877-462-5464 or 740-753-3591; fax: 740-753-7065
www.hocking.edu
Ohio Forestry Association Inc.
746 Morrison Rd.
Columbus, OH 43230
888-388-7337 or 614-497-9580; fax: 614-497-9581
www.ohioforest.org

Celebration days:
2011: Oct 1; Oct 2
2012: Oct 6; Oct 7
2013: Oct 5; Oct 6
2014: Oct 4; Oct 5
2015: Oct 3; Oct 4