Morton Loggers Jubilee a Well-Rounded Success

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If it weren’t for loggers, Morton’s flagship celebration would just be a jubilee with questionable cause for jubilation. When the vaunted axmen show up in town, though, locals of all stripes know it’s time to get down like a choker setter on a hillside.

In its 74th incarnation, the jubilee is still a logging-centric event that happens to be located in the center of a loggers’ milltown, in the heart of a rolling timberland. Like an old standing cedar stump, the Loggers Jubilee has not lost its roots, but like an old-growth maple, it has certainly branched out over the years.

The good times in Morton now include a bed race, a fun run, a lawnmower race, a street dance, a parade, a flea market, live theater and, of course, a well-stocked beer garden. Thanks to that diverse lineup of events, the community celebration draws in an estimated haul of 8,000 or more people per year. That surge increases the town’s population by about seven times over, if ever so briefly.

Last Thursday night, the East Lewis County escapade began with the crowning of the Jubilee Queen. Julianna Draper, of Morton, wound up taking the tiara from a crowded field of seven contestants. 

“With seven girls she did an awesome job. That’s the most we ever had,” said event coordinator Linda Mettler. “We’re thinking we might even add more girls next year because everything went so well.”

With Draper crowned, the Jubilee continued on Saturday with the traditional parade, as well as the not-so-traditional bed races. Official bed race director Chad Cramer classified the event as a king-size success.

Cramer noted that the Morton-White Pass girls basketball team took first place in the race, with Dawson and Calleigh Cramer riding the sleigh bed and a crew of pushers consisting of Jacie Dunlap, Taylor Hazen, Taylor Nilius and Alexcious Hampton. The Gas Plus Chevron team took second place.

Cramer added that a moment of levity popped up in the middle of the fierce bed racing competition when the relatively new police chief in town, Roger Morningstar, inadvertently drove down the street course in the middle of the untucked race. Observing the wayward lawman, Cramer quipped over the loudspeaker, “Sir, I don’t care how many sirens you have there are no cars in the bed races. Is this your first Jubilee?”

With a fun run and a bike ride also taking place over the weekend, it’s obvious that Morton residents have a penchant for competition and speed games. That’s how you end up with competitive lawnmower races.

Taking first and second in the men’s lawn mower races were Chad Kuschel and Mike Kuschel, respectively. Both of the Kuschels are from Amboy. Sean O’Kelly, of Graham, wound up in third place. In the women’s division, another Amboy invader, Courtney Nicholson, took home the gold.

“This was her first time here so that was kind of cool,” said lawn mower race organizer Julie Schaffer.

Skyler Riggs, of Battle Ground, wound up with a second-place finish in the races, and Emily Hoffman, of Vancouver, Washington, took home the bronze.

“There was over 4,000 people,” said Schaffer. “It was about average. It’s a fun little show.”

Schaffer added that the official barometer for success is not measured so much in heads in the stands as beer kegs tapped.

“We kind of go by how many kegs go out,” said Schaffer, who noted that 25 kegs ran dry during this year’s event. “I think our record was 27 or 28 one year.”

With all of the various blades in town for the weekend, it’s no surprise that Tommy T’s Axes (knives and camo) was one of the most popular stops on the flea market circuit.

Owner Tommy Tantges is a retired military veteran who specializes in blacksmithing and woodworking. He also deals in brand new, collector’s-style axes and knives.

“I’m an ax junky,” said Tantges. The phrase is a reference to a Facebook group dedicated to all things axing of which Tantges is a member.

Tantges refurbishes many of his available axes from head to toe. He purchases old heads at garage sales and the like and outfits them on brand-new hand-crafted and painstakingly stained handles. 

He’s been vending his wares at the Loggers Jubilee for about 10 years now and he also does Packwood Days. He says that the East Lewis County crowds tend to be good for business.

“I’ve been into axes for about eight to 10 years now. I do really good here,” said Tantges, who noted that the ax market seems to have taken off in the last five years. “The craze has just gone wild.”

He says, his bearded fighting ax, a collectors item, is one of the most popular axes in his arsenal. It’s right up there with the classic and practical camp ax.

Tantges doesn’t hesitate when asked why axes are so popular with people these days.



“The nostalgia of it. The history of it. It’s one of man’s first tools,” said Tantges. “This country was built by a man with an ax and a horse.”

One man who can certainly appreciate the function of a good axe is Steve Schinnell, of Morton. Schinnell spent 20 years as a logger, and another 15 as a land surveyor. Now he is a carpenter.

“It’s all about wood,” said Schinnell in reference to his life.

The Morton resident also used to participate in the logging competitions at the Jubilee for about 10 years, but that was many moons ago. Now he is on the event setup crew and spends the rest of his time being a proud papa.

Schinnell noted that three of his four adult daughters, Sami, Annie and Jen, made it to Morton over the weekend to participate in the festivities. After running in the 10K race on Saturday morning, the girls did their daddy proud by claiming third place in the bed races despite an understaffed crew.

After claiming bronze in the bed races the girls joined their father inside the arena of the lumberjack competition, where they performed official timekeeping duties. 

Besides greasing the proverbial wheels of the show, Schinnell also got to put on a little show of his own when he participated in the ceremonial power saw falling of a tall timber pole with his partner, Chetty Erskine, of Morton. The goal is to hit a center spike in the ground with the tree and drive it into the earth but both participating teams managed to miss their mark by an incomprehensible gap of only a few inches. The other team was comprised of Mortonites Doug Coleman and Jim Schaffer.

Schinnell noted that the gist of the competition has changed quite a bit in the decades since he last competed in the Loggers Jubilee lumberjack smackdown.

“The events have really evolved just based on the type of wood we can get our hands on. You used to drive down the road counting the number of three log loads you saw. Now they average is closer to 50 each,” explained Schinnell.

One thing that hasn’t changed is Schinnell and his daughters coming out for the Morton big days.

“They pretty much grew up when I was competing,” said Schinnell, who made sure his girls know how to use an ax, and a saw. “In the corner of the dining room we have pieces (of wood) set up from when they started falling trees for the Forest Service. Little chunks of all their first trees.”

Although nearly all went according to plan on the weekend, Mettler noted that crowd favorite Gordy Mauhl, who turned 74 on Saturday, did sustain a bloody injury. She also noted that the blood was unable to stop Mauhl from competing.

“It was a bad enough cut that he was bleeding all over but he continued to do his events because he wanted to be there and be a part of the show,” said Mettler. “We would have excused him from the event but he is a real competitor and wanted to be there.”

Mettler noted, “He’s been coming here as long as I’ve been here and we’ve been managing the show for 38 years.”

She added that Mauhl has plans on beating a record that will come into play once he turns 75 next year, which will put him into a new classification.

“He’s always been that way,” said Mettler.

With all those years of experience to harken back on, Mettler stood impressed at the turnout at the conclusion of the Jubilee.

“It was hotter than last year so that made our show a little bit longer, plus we had some new competition,” she said. “The people who come to the show are steadfast, and on Saturday it was amazing that they stayed until the end. Our shows don’t usually go that long.”

Mettler estimated the total attendance for the logging show in the arena at about 7,000, noting that it was better than the 2015 turnout. She also estimated that the total turnout for the weekend likely saw between 8,000 and 10,000 people on the typically quiet streets of Morton.

“The town just grows immensely,” said Mettler. “We’re already projecting out for 75 and we want to really have a great celebration for our diamond celebration. We’re working hard on it.”

Brian Bartow won the day, and the overall logging competition, to earn the title of Bull of the Woods for the second straight year and the seventh time overall. 

Additional information on the Loggers Jubilee can be found online at http://www.loggersjubilee.com/.