Sean C. Morgan
The Logger Olympics is changing locations this year, moving into the old rodeo arena at the Community Events Center, which will speed up the Sportsman’s Holiday event and provide more seating.
“We’re looking to make it bigger and better in conjunction with Sportsman’s Holiday,” said Director Milt Moran, although he said organizers don’t want to make it too big. He wants the event to move as efficiently as possible.
Moran sees the former rodeo facility, which was not used last year, as a good venue for the competition, with its aluminum bleachers and enclosed arena.
“We’ll use these bleachers now and put it to good use,” he said.
The move is fairly simple, Moran said. The spar poles, used for climbing, and obstacle poles will need to be moved. A second set of obstacle poles will be set up as well.
Work begins in earnest this week, Moran said. Larry Blem will get the hay off the field, and then volunteers will begin digging holes and moving logs. Moran wants to be ready a week before Sportsman’s Holiday.
“We can run twice as many competitors at the same time,” Moran said. The ax throw will have three separate targets to run all three divisions at once.
The relays, the main event, will still run one at a time, Moran said. “Everybody’s rooting for their favorite logging company.”
“People will be able to see them running against each other from the grandstands,” Moran said. “There’s substantially more seating. It’s a lot safer.”
And the grandstands are handicapped accessible, Moran said.
The volunteers recording performance times will sit in the announcer’s booth with a good overview of the events.
Moran and the Logger Olympics committee is working with Marvin Wing to add a tractor pull following the Logger Olympics, Moran said. (See accompanying story) With that event on tap, his goal is to get through the Logger Olympics a little quicker than in the past, finishing before 3 p.m.
The event is free and starts at 1 p.m. on July 13 at the Events Center, 4000 Long St. Spectators should use the east parking area.
The Sweet Home Rodeo’s last show was in 2011.
“I support the rodeo,” Moran said. “It just didn’t have enough community support. It just couldn’t get enough people coming through the gate.”
Since then, the Kiwanis, the Rotary Club and Little Promises Daycare have served food at the Logger Olympics.
Moran has been running the Logger Olympics with his wife, Jane, for about 15 years. Also involved in organizing the event are Ted and Peggy Hufford, Jim and Audrey Cota and Scott and Wendi Melcher.
Mona and Bob Waibel organized the event before that. “We helped Bob run it here for a year or two.”
Moran said the competition could not be held without support from local logging companies and businesses, who donate prize money.
The event remains a popular activity following the Sportsman’s Holiday Parade.
“I’m amazed at the crowd we get,” Moran said. “It’s a wonderful crowd. You know everybody. I’m just excited to have people coming, having a good time watching timber sports and lawnmower pulling.
“We just want to keep doing something people enjoy coming to. This is our heritage for this area. We are a timber community. We really are. There’s an awful lot of folks employed in this business.”