Odd Sights and Sounds Dominate Saginaw Days in Logging Road Town

BROOKLYN — Saginaw Days is a strange happening in a far-out place.

For starters, the lumberjacking competition is actually a one-day event. 

The pluralized “days” in its title is no misnomer though. That’s because each year lumberjack enthusiasts and outright revelers from all over the area descend on the logging road community of Brooklyn beginning on Friday night, either to help set up the fiasco or, more likely, for the prolific social imbibing. The actual show is on Saturday, and many of those flannel-jacket and hickory-shirt outfitted attendees simply pitch a tent or park a camper and proceed to enjoy each other’s sap-splattered company right on through until after another Sunday morning has come on down.

Nestled in the thick timber stands of Pacific County, tucked in along the Grays Harbor and Lewis County lines, and at the crescent of a rutted out logging road located precisely in the middle of two middle-of-nowhere towns, it’s understandable that once a person makes it to Saginaw Days that they would be inclined to stick around awhile.

A sign inside the Brooklyn Tavern, which plays host to the annual event, notes that the two nearest watering holes are located 18 miles in either location in the hibernating burgs of Arctic and Oakville. The sign is out of date though, as it just so happens that both of those roadhouses are now closed, amazingly making the Brooklyn Tavern even more isolated than before.

The isolation is not a turnoff for the Saginaw Days crowd, however. On the contrary, one gets the feeling that a slightly disheveled, unsupervised, well-lubricated competition with sharp saws and axes way out in the boonies is exactly the recipe that the mud-crusted crowd craves.

“This is a community with far reaching roots,” noted Brooklyn Tavern regular Terri Wheeler on a day when folks from blue collar towns like Elma, Montesano, Rochester, Tenino, Toledo, Onalaska and Castle Rock dotted the stands. “It’s cool all the people that come out here from Tenino and Yelm and Olympia just for the day.”

Wheeler, who sported a comfortable looking and well-worn tie-dye design Brooklyn Tavern (est. 1927) hooded sweatshirt on Saturday, first started coming to Saginaw Days about five years ago when her boyfriend from Oakville brought her along. Her father was a bull buck for the Simpson Timber company, so she grew up immersed in logging culture. Another regular at the tavern noted that, “she’s got pitch in her veins,” so the culture in Brooklyn and of Saginaw Days was as familiar as sawdust to Wheeler.

These days, the couple makes frequent trips to visit their cohorts at the Brooklyn Tavern or to stay with friends that live just down the road. And Saginaw Days is always circled on the calendar.

“It’s the biggest day of the year out here,” said Wheeler, who noted that nearly all of the entertainment is free. 

Folks are allowed to bring their own beer to the logging show and, for those that work up an appetite, the North River Grange holds a fairly priced spaghetti feed as a fundraiser.

It’s a different kind of day out in the backwoods for sure. 

“You just saw that woman trying to buck that log,” said Wheeler of a big-hearted and small-biceped competitor who demonstrated in front of the audience precisely why the double buck saw is also known as a misery whip. Despite her struggles, the woman’s relentless effort garnered a hearty cheer from the assembled blue collar crowd.

“It’s a fun day,” said Wheeler, who noted that her favorite part is, “Blowing Louie’s horn.”

“Louie’s Horn” is a reference to the old time steam donkey that dominates the ambiance of Saginaw Days. The predecessor to the power yarders of today, steam donkeys were used to pull large pieces of timber up steep slopes and all around logging sites of yesteryear. The steam donkey on hand in Brooklyn is owned by Lou Parsons, of Hoodsport, and he kept it hot and whistling all day long as he sent logs careening from one side of the venue to the other along a haywire system of pulley rigged guidewires.

In its 17th incarnation on Saturday, Saginaw Days brought in at least 200 spectators and about 30 contestants. It was a smaller showing than in years past, but according to the tavern manager, who everyone knows as D.D., it was a cork-booted step in the right direction.

The tavern has undergone numerous ownership changes in recent years and that instability had taken a toll on the loggers’ show. Wheeler called last year’s show a token event. This year though, all of the familiar events and most of the familiar faces were back in Brooklyn.

“I was scared this morning when it was pouring down rain at 6 a.m.,” admitted D.D., who also did some double bucking on Saturday.

But the Saginaw Day patrons are not afraid of a little rain. Besides, they are not sweet enough to melt like sugar.

Doug Zepp, Elma, is the announcer for Saginaw Days and has been participating in the event since its inception in 1999.

“We’re the only show that uses real wood trees and a real steam donkey yarder,” said Zepp, who noted that Port Blakely provides all of the timber for the competitions.

Seventeen years in, Zepp is doggedly committed to the Saginaw show, which gets its name from the former bustling Saginaw logging camp that used to sprawl across the landscape where only the Brooklyn Tavern and North River Grange now stand.

“What makes this event special is it’s not professionals,” explained Zepp. “The best show is people doing what they know and showing what they do best.”

Sarah Alvarez, of Hoquiam, was one of those greenhorns who wound up putting on a show. Alvarez said she grew up coming out to Saginaw Days with her family but had never participated in any logging events before Saturday when she helped to make mincedmeat out of a log as the Ma portion of a Ma and Pa double bucking team.

“My mom overheard him saying that he needed a Ma, so I did it,” said Alvarez, who teamed up with Saginaw regular Jeff Fetter, of Buckley. 

“He just said, ‘Go like the energizer bunny and hold on because it’s going to be tough,’” recounted Alvarez. “He’s a good teeter.”

Alvarez did more than hang on though as she and Buckley powered through their log with an impressive mix of power and rhythm.

“She’s a heckuva bucker. And it was her first time!” noted an impressed Fetter.

The rest of the show featured classic events such as choker setting, burling, lots of bucking and some hot rod power saws outfitted with car and motorcycle engines. The biggest crowd pleaser of the show though was the tree felling competition where teams of two attempted to drop a tall timber onto a tall can of beer. Only one team was able to so much as graze their beer can, but on the bright side, none of the canned contents went to waste.

Peter Diaz, 33, Rochester, managed to break the mold on Saturday though when, in the wake of the monster power saw competitions, he busted out his itty-bitty Stihl 200T chainsaw and went to work bucking a big round off of the sacrificial log.

The teacup tree cutting effort had the crowd busting its collective gut and plastered a huge smile across Diaz’s face once he had successfully completed his ambitious cut.

Diaz made his unexpected debut at Saginaw Days a couple years ago when he was summoned from the crowd to fill in for a pole climbing event.

He said it was the opportunity for, “Spittin’, cussin’ (and) runnin’ chainsaws,” that brought him back out to Brooklyn last Saturday.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Diaz, who also competed in the choker setting competition and owns Chet’s Tree Servicing in Rochester. “It’s a good blend of a lot of old timers and the newer guys. You don’t get to do a lot of this in residential type tree service.”