In Pictures: Timber Day 2017

There were also plenty of entertainment for kids to enjoy, including two pie-eating contests, a meet-and-greet with Smokey the Bear, and a variety of logging-inspired activities.

And who could forget one of the most anticipated events, the log-rolling contest? Better known among loggers as “birling”. Another highly anticipated event was the pole climb. I don’t have a clue how they make it down so fast without being run through by slivers.

Katherine “Kat” Spencer was a phenomenal host / MC, too. I especially enjoyed her good-natured ribbing of her fellow logging competitors, as well as educating crowd members like myself who have very little exposure to the logging world. Well done!

The competition not just welcomed newcomers to the sport, but encouraged them whole heartedly. That said, protective fences had to be put in place too. Ya know, just in case.

 The events obviously took a great deal of planning and volunteer work from a lot of people. Without timers and judges, in particular, there wouldn’t have been any competitions.

 The Pioneer Logger Award was given in memoriam to Max Stoller, a local man who lost his life in an unfortunate logging accident in the summer of 2015 at the age of 65 after spending the past 51 years of his life in the Revelstoke region as a logger. His family was on hand to accept the award on his behalf.

Other notable awards given were Scott Hanson for Local Man Logger of the Day, Debbie Barstad for Local Lady Logger of the Day, Erin Lavoie for Pro Lady Logger of the Day, and unfortunately I never heard who was given the award for Pro Man Logger of the Day.

There were also a number of great silent auction items, as well as a live firewood auction that saw three logging truck loads of firewood sold, each for about an average of $1100. That’s a steal! Of course, it doesn’t come pre-cut either, as far as I could tell, so those people had better be offering fiends and neighbours lots of BBQ and beer to help with that task!

The last event for the locals was the Groucho Marx competition. If you haven’t seen this before, it’s a water fight with the objective of putting out your opponents’ cigars while you keep yours lit.