Thermometers registering 25 below zero Saturday morning and unmentionable windchills thinned the crowds at Buena Vista Logging Days, but the freeze didn't cool the enthusiasm of those who attended.
"These are some dedicated volunteers and visitors," said Liz Letson, daughter of the late Earle Dickinson, who originated the Lumberjack Hall of Fame and launched the first Logging Days in 1983 with his father, Leonard Dickinson, and Benhart Rajala from Grand Rapids.
The Hall of Fame celebrates and preserves the history of lumberjacks with a photo gallery of old-time logging operations and camp workers. The Hall of Fame also houses tools such as crosscut saws, peaveys and axes.
Loggings Days also gives skilled teamsters the opportunity to demonstrate the traditional methods of cutting and skidding timber out of the woods with their teams of draft horses. On Saturday at the Logging Villages, they also showed how horse-powered logging moved logs and loaded them onto sleds.
Visitors alternated crouching around campfires and dodging into heated buildings to eat flapjacks and listen to music. They would then brave the severe cold again to watch chainsaw carving, horse-powered activities and take part in games. The noon parade of teams around the Village Circle was cancelled because of the cold. As teamster Wendell Knutson said, the weather was freezing for the drivers and not many people would want to stand around and watch a parade.
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The annual Tall Timberjack Ceremony Saturday afternoon included a "Happy Trails" program dedicated to Earle, who died suddenly in October while working at one of his favorite tasks, moving earth with a Caterpillar.
Knutson, Letson, Todd Haugen of KB101 Radio and Sky Pilot Jack High led the ceremony.
Many friends joined the family in honoring Earle.
"If it had been a normal winter, we might not have come, what with the cold," said Vern Holzhueter who attended with his wife, Sandy. "You had to come this year for the family. This is one year you don't want to miss. You have to let the family know."
Inducted into the Lumberjack Hall of Fame were members of the logging industry: Norman Evans, Melvin Moe and Terry Nelson of Bemidji; Beverly Knutson of Puposky; Jim Pint and Doug Oehrlein of Brainerd; Don Davis of Grand Rapids; and Dick Schauers of Park Rapids.
A new honor was the Earle Dickinson Spirit Award given this year to Todd Haugen of KB101 Radio, Monte Draper of the Bemidji Pioneer and Dave Schubert, who has been the strawboss of the Brainerd group of teamsters for many years. They were recognized for their contributions in keeping the spirit of Logging Days alive.
