June 18, 2014 at 2:38 p.m.
Explore Rhinelander history at Boom Lake Log Jam
Explore Rhinelander history at Boom Lake Log Jam
The event kicks off Friday night with live music from the Outlaws Band. Saturday's events include performances from the All-American Lumberjack Show, children's events, a milk jug regatta, a citizen logging competition and live music from the Quill Pickers, the Bear Creek Band and Raised Reckless.
Logging equipment will be on display at Hodag Park all weekend, and the Logging Museum at Pioneer Park will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The All-American Lumberjack Show will put on three professional logging demonstrations Saturday.
"[The events in the show] are all skills from a logger that a logger needs in the woods either traditional old-time skills or the new skills," said show promoter Jim Fischer.
Spectators will watch log boom racing, log rolling, cross-cut sawing, hot sawing, ax throwing, springboard tree topping, and obstacle pole racing.
All of these events are tied to traditional logging-related activities.
"They used to have log drives that they brought the logs down the river on, that's how it was done before they had any roads around or anything like that," Fischer said.
According to Fischer, log drives were still being done up until the 1940s, but not to the extent they had been in the 1800s.
"Guys that had to ride these logs down the river had to know how to walk and all that and stay out of the water because they'd be crushed if they fell in. They also had to know how to jump from log to log and that's where these two events [the log rolling and log boom racing] come from," Fischer said.
Log boom racing takes place over floating logs and people have to run back and forth on them.
Log rolling is where two people run on a log trying to get the other person to fall in the water.
In springboard tree topping a logger creates a notch in the tree and places a 4-foot board in it. If it is done correctly it shouldn't fall out.
The logger can then climb up on it and create another notch, continue as far up the tree as they want and then cut off the top.
During the demonstration loggers will only use two notches to climb the 12-foot-pole, Fischer said.
There will also be chainsaw-carving demonstrations, giveaways and autographs.
Adults can participate in the citizen logging competition in the afternoon.
Children can look forward to a dunk tank, a photo booth, and a tent with face painting and other activities.
Adults can also enjoy the beer tent where several varieties of ale will be served.
The festivities come to a close on Sunday morning at the Rhinelander Logging Museum, located in Pioneer Park. The museum is planning activities for children.
A full schedule of events can be found on the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce's website, www.explorerhinelander.com.
"We're thrilled to welcome people to the Rhinelander area for the first Boom Lake Log Jam," said Dana DeMet, director of the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce. "We think it will be a great event for families from Oneida County and around the state."
The inaugural event is being launched with the help of a $10,000 Joint Effort Marketing grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.
"We're looking forward to bringing this event back to the community in the coming years, and we hope that we can draw visitors from all over Wisconsin to take in the lumberjack shows, kids' events and live music," DeMet said.
River News feature writer Kayla Breese contributed to this article.
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