The sound of chain saws returned to the woods of Amboy on Saturday as the community’s Territorial Days Log Show reconvened after a two-year hiatus.
The log show on July 9 featured a number of events designed to show off entrants’ ability to cut wood, though it took more than a sharp blade to be competitive.
About four dozen adults and a dozen kids participated in Saturday’s show, which was part of the larger Amboy Territorial Days celebration. The festival included a parade and lawnmower races, among other events, all focused around Amboy’s eponymous Territorial Days Park.
Prior to the annual event, Territorial Days Park Director Greg Brown said the park serves as the site of an Easter egg hunt. Shortly after that happens, the work to prepare the grounds begins with mowing. Getting the grounds ready takes about two months, Brown said.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the log show for two years, though some festivities like the parade and lawnmower races returned in 2021.
Brown said it was great to be back in logging action.
“It’s a thumbs-up. We missed this,” he said.
Brown said it was his 25th year either running or helping with the show and his 28th year competing. He admitted he had a little “rust” on his technique due to the hiatus.
“It takes 10 to 15 years to get these events down, to know exactly what you need to do,” Brown said.
Brown said his favorite event to compete in is the chain race. In that competition, entrants use the same type of chain saw but use their own customized chains, sharpened and configured to their liking, to see who can saw through a large log. The cut has to be clean through the log in order to count.
Earlier in his career, Brown favored the modified saw event. In that competition, two entrants face off against each other with their own saws. They cut through a log, then balance themselves over another log before sawing through a third log.
Other events this year included ax throwing, log rolling, two-person saws and a “high climb” where entrants made their way up a tall pole to ring a bell.
Brown’s favorite event to watch is the obstacle pole, where entrants walk onto a log balanced over water and cut off a slice at the end of the log.
Saturday’s contest had a “pretty average” turnout, Brown said.
“We are missing a lot of guys (but) there’s a lot of new faces,” Brown said.
He said on Saturday there were more contestants competing in only one or two events as opposed to more of the whole slate of events like in past years.
“This crowd, that’s what I was hoping for today,” Brown said as he looked out onto the hundreds of people set up on the hillside overlooking the competition arena.
Brown can trace his ancestry back to Amos Ball, the founder of the unincorporated community of Amboy, who settled the area prior to Washington becoming a state. Though he is not a professional logger like much of his family, he feels a connection to the park and the event.
“I feel like I need to carry this on,” Brown said.
