Junior loggers test their skills at Evergreen State Fair

MONROE — Madilyn Morrison had to stretch her arms to reach both ends of the bow saw’s handle.

Still, the 6-year-old determinedly sawed at a narrow log while a volunteer with a timer watched. Madilyn was one of the youngest competitors in the 4H Junior Loggers Contest on Tuesday morning at the Evergreen State Fair.

Her dad, Scott Morrison, helped Madilyn steady the saw so it would get a better bite into the wood. Hold it straight and even, he suggested. Susan Morrison, 4, stood by and monitored her older sister’s progress. She fidgeted with one of the double braids in her hair, just like the twin braids in her sister’s hair.

“My daddy’s helping,” Susan announced.

“My hands hurt,” Madilyn chimed in.

Finally, the saw passed through the log and a piece fell off the end onto grass and sawdust below. Madilyn snatched it up. She put in a lot of work to get that circle of wood.

“I have a feeling that’s going home with us,” Scott Morrison said.

The Junior Loggers Contest is a series of challenges for young people from first to 12th grade. Though it falls under the Natural Resources division of 4H, any child or teen in any 4H program can participate. There’s a choker race where competitors clamber over and around hay bales and up an angled log to fasten the choker. In other rounds, participants saw through logs, try to strike a match with a hatchet and use an old hand-pumped fireman’s water can to fill a metal can set several yards away. Contestants also race to tie different knots on a wooden frame and use a peavey hook to move logs.

There’s a focus on teamwork with a healthy dose of friendly competition, 4H volunteer Ralph Hunt said. He’s coordinated the Junior Loggers Contest for four years. He expected at least 25 participants this year, maybe as many as 50.

Sabrina Corey, 16, has been in 4H for at least five years and has done the contest each summer. Her knots are better this year thanks to practice, she said.

Megan MacLane, 13, has been in 4H for six years and spends most of her time at the fair showing horses. She’s been a junior logger five of her six years. Her favorite challenge is the choker race and she likes working with younger kids.

“The thing about 4H is it’s learning by doing and it’s youth development,” said Nadine MacLane, Megan’s mom. “The older kids teach the younger kids.”

The junior contest isn’t the only celebration of logging at the fair. The International Lumberjack Show takes place three times a day. The Leavenworth-based program features events from professional logging competitions condensed into a half-hour show and spiced up with comedy. It’s one of the most popular daily attractions. The stands often fill and people spread out on the grass and walkways to watch.

Performers throw axes, chop through and race up logs and use springboards to climb a short pole and spur climbing equipment to scale a 70-foot pole. In a crosscut sawing competition, a two-man team can outpace a chain saw.

The International Lumberjack Show is marking its 35th year at the Evergreen State Fair.

Brothers Earl and Alvie Marcellus started the show. Their dad and uncles were into timber sports when they were kids. Earl first competed at age 11 and Alvie at age 13.

“We’ve got sawdust in the blood,” Earl Marcellus said.

They’ve traveled the country and to Japan and Mexico with their show. In the late 1980s, they were a regular feature at Disneyland for a couple of months a year.

“We make the competition family friendly,” said Jessica Karraker, Earl Marcellus’ daughter. “We want people to not only understand the heritage of logging but to appreciate it and enjoy it and laugh.”

Beyond his performance as a lumberjack, the junior loggers and other 4H and FFA programs are the most important parts of the fair to Alvie Marcellus. He wants young people to understand the work that goes into products they often take for granted.

“I think it’s a great connection,” he said. “Our world’s gotten to the point where a lot of people think all you need is that computer screen to do what you need in the world. But without farming, ranching, mining, logging, working the land — without that, nothing happens.”

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.