World Championship Lumberjack Competition

Festival Location: Hayward, WI, USA

Festival State: Wisconsin Festivals

Festival Type: Strength Sports Events

By: © Nelson Taylor 2009

Hayward is a town of 2,000 with a history steeped in the logging and timber industry. It has been hosting the World Championship Lumberjack Competition during the last full-weekend of July since 1958. The biggest and oldest competition of its kind in America, every year over 200 bush-bearded, barrel-chested, flannel-wearing dudes and dudettes in dungarees are invited (based on performances in smaller events around the nation) to hopefully do more than just lumber through various events.

In the watersports category, there's log-rolling, a staple. The gist is: king of the mountain. Two people wearing spiked shoes roll a log through the water while trying to dump the other person first. The boom run is a race across swivel-attached floating logs. While the first leg is easy, navigating the swaying bunch on the return trip can be a bitch. Then there's the climbing events. Think about scurrying up 90-foot trees, doing a little chainsaw work, then sliding back down all under the gun. But probably the big audience-pleasers are the Sawing and Chopping events. I'm talking Popeye and Brutus on either side of a saw getting through a log with a diameter of 20 inches in 6.09 seconds. Is that even possible? Bet your ass it is. It's the world record. Another favorite is the Underhand Chop where woodsmen and women stand on top of an upturned log with a diameter of 14 inches and split that mother in two with an ax. World record: 11.84 seconds.

Now, the obvious question for any sporting that involves climbing, axes and saws is how many people die every year? "None, but a guy broke his back after falling from the top of a tree," say Bonnie Salzman, event spokesperson. "We've even lost a couple of toes. These guys insist on wearing tennis shoes for the underhand chop. They've tried those steel-toed boots, but they saw they just can't get the traction they need." Well, one less toe never hurt anyone. But diced digits and free-flowing blood? That always gets the crowd rocking. Admission is $10 a day or $25 for the entire weekend.