COUDERSPORT – Cherry Springs State Park will host the 71st annual Woodsmen Show Friday through Sunday featuring the Lumberjack Show of Champions.
The show runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at 4639 Cherry Springs Road (about 12 miles from Galeton via West Branch Road and 15 miles from Coudersport via Route 44).
During one-hour shows at 11:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday, Arden Cogar Jr. and Mike Sullivan will entertain the audience with humorous, informative demonstrations of required skills during one-hour shows
Contestants in Friday’s 2 p.m. hands-on amateur competition will rub elbows with lumberjack champions as Cogar, Sullivan and DCNR staff assist amateurs competing in the two-person log roll, ax throw and two-person crosscut. Amateurs must be at least 13 to compete; those 13 to 17 must have parental consent. Register for the contest Friday morning at the DCNR trailer and practice for the contest beginning at noon.
Visitors are encouraged to stick around to see who will win the overall lumberjack title during the professional competition set noon to 3 p.m. Saturday. As seen on television, the top lumberjacks in the country will compete in eight different events including log rolling, ax throw, springboard, tree felling, standing chop, hot chainsaw, one-person buck crosscut and two-person buck crosscut.
The horse-pulling competition is set noon to 3 p.m. Sunday in the main arena. Draft horses weighing 1,500 to 2,000 pounds each will pull thousands of pounds of logs the same way trees were removed from the forest during the logging era.
Musician Jay Smar will perform 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Smar plays two guitars, a claw-hammer banjo and fiddle and does flat footing, a type of clog dancing. A baritone, Smar sings traditional American and original folk, old-time mountain music, bluegrass and gospel tunes as well as coal mining songs of northeast Pennsylvania.
Woodhick Grove will feature survival skill demonstrations at various times between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Woodhick Grove, youth ages 10 to 18 participating in History Camp from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum will demonstrate 19-century woodhick skills they’ve learned such as using a crosscut saw, rolling a log, peeling bark and playing games like horseshoes and seed spitting.
A treasure hunt with prizes for children 12 and younger will be held each day.
A variety of food and wood-related items, such as wood-turned art, wood sculptures, rustic furniture and wooden novelties will be available for purchase as well as commemorative T-shirts, trapping supplies, lumber maintenance products, homemade baskets, chainsaws and more.
Throughout the weekend chainsaw artists entered in the Masterpiece Competition can be viewed as they create in artists’ booths. Judges will pick the top three place winners for awards to be presented at 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Each day chainsaw artists will compete in one-hour Quick Carve contests to create special pieces for immediate auction to the highest bidder.
A chainsaw and powered equipment will be raffled off at 2:30 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday (must be present to win). Three firearms will be raffled off at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (need not be present to win).
Grounds are open each day at 9 a.m. Admission for adults is $10 Friday and Sunday and $14 Saturday. Admission for children 12 and younger is $7 all three days. A three-day pass is $24 for adults and $16 for children 12 and younger. Credit cards are accepted.
Sponsored by the Galeton Rotary Club, all proceeds from the Woodsmen Show support local projects. For more information, contact the Galeton Rotary Club at (814) 435-6855 or visit www.woodsmenshow.com.
