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Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show

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Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show
The logo features in the background trees next to a mountain. In the foreground, there is a lumberjack wearing a green hat and a red shirt and holding an axe. The bottom half of the photo features the show's logo, "Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show".
Logo
CompanyLumberjack Sports International
GenreWoodsman
Show typeResident
Date of premiereMay 2000 (2000-05)
Location420 Spruce Mill Way
Ketchikan, Alaska
Creative team
FounderRob Scheer
Official website

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is a lumberjack show performed in Ketchikan, Alaska. Established in May 2000 by Rob Scheer, the show is put on by the Wisconsin-based Lumberjack Sports International. Located near the Ketchikan Creek, the show's venue has 475 seats and is at the former site of the Ketchikan Spruce Mill, which closed in 1993. Ketchikan's economy once had a heavy reliance on the wood industry, peaking at the beginning of the 20th century but declining by the 1990s. The show pays homage to the city's lumber history.

Two teams of two lumberjacks each compete for the title of "King of the Woods". One team represents the Spruce Mill team of Ketchikan, while the other represents the Dawson Creek team of the Yukon. With a one-hour run time, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show features 13 events. The events include axe throwing, boom running, bucksawing, chainsaw carving, crosscut sawing, hot sawing, logrolling, obstacle pole racing, relay racing, speed climbing, tree climbing, tree topping, underhand chopping, and woodchopping.

Location and venue[edit]

The show's venue circa 2014

Performed in Ketchikan, Alaska, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is located close to the mouth of Ketchikan Creek, near the city's waterfront.[1][2][3] The show's venue is one block away from where cruise ships anchor.[4][5] It is next to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center. [6][7][8] The show takes place on the former location of the Ketchikan Spruce Mill, which was built in 1898 and ceased operations in 1993 and used to be the biggest spruce mill worldwide.[9] The location remained unused until the show opened there.[10]

The show is performed in an all-weather amphitheatre containing a heated and enclosed grandstand.[7][9] The seats are cushioned.[11] The grandstand has 475 seats and is accessible to people with disabilities.[12][13] The venue showcases historic photos and relics related from the timber industry.[2][14]

History[edit]

Andy Colle, a performer, does a standing block chop in 2009.

Founded by Rob Scheer in Ketchikan, Alaska, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show was first performed in May 2000.[15][16] The show is run by the Wisconsin-based Lumberjack Sports International, which has events shown on ABC, ESPN, the Outdoor Life Network, and TNN. The company employed two groups who traveled in semi-trailer trucks equipped with tree trunks people could scale.[15] In the show's first season, passengers of cruise ships that docked in Ketchikan could purchase the show's tickets on the ships.[15] The show is popular with cruise ship passengers.[17] Running between May and September, it is performed between one and five times every day.[4][18]

Ketchikan's economy used to rely significantly on the wood industry, reaching its height at the beginning of the 20th century.[19][20] Southeastern United States lumberjacks visited Ketchikan in the summers to vie for the title of "King of the Woods".[19] Timber groups at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century engaged in contests. The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show recreates the contests from that era.[21] The lumber industry diminished in the 1990s, and the city's economy became fully committed to tourism.[20][22] The show pays homage to the city's lumber history.[22] The Ketchikan Pulp Company, a nearby pulp mill, had not long ago shut down, causing the unemployment of 1,700 workers in the logger sector.[15][23] Between 1995 and 2000, the number of loggers in Naukati Bay who went every day to the forest for work dropped from 70 to roughly nine. When the show premiered, the loggers believed that the show could offer employment to them. The show, however, hired its cast from outside of Alaska.[15] The loggers became exasperated that a tourist show aimed to make money from a market in decline.[23] Mike Schafer, the planner for the Prince of Wales Fair and Logging Show held in Thorne Bay, said that loggers viewed the show as "kind of going to a zoo and seeing a bear in a cage instead of seeing it out in the wild" and "kind of a slam on the timber industry". The Ketchikan-based Alaska Forest Association, a forestry industry group, disagreed, praising the show as allowing tourists to learn about the forestry sector's historical background.[15]

The venue was used to host the Iron Jack and Iron Jill World Championships in 2003.[24][25] By 2006, the Travel Channel had called the show Alaska's second most visited tourist attraction.[26] The venue underwent renovations in 2013 after that season's performances had finished. The grandstand was moved to be several feet further from the Thomas Basin seawall. The show moved the accessible seating, the poles for climbing, and the logrolling pond. The aim was to move the audience nearer the performers and to improve the efficiency of moving within the venue.[1]

The show resumed hosting the Timber Carnival, where the Ironjack contest takes place, in 2023. It had paused contests for two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Timber Carnival raises money for the Sheila June Scheer Memorial Scholarship, which helps several high school students based in Southeast Alaska. The scholarship honors founder Rob Scheer's wife; she died in 2016 of a brain aneurysm.[27][28] Eight contestants vie in eight activities such as a boom run, "rigging", sawing, and wood chopping. The event gives contestants $6,000 in cash rewards.[27] Boone Scheer, Rob Scheer's son and Sheila June Scheer's stepson, won the competition in 2016, 2017, and 2018.[28]

Show[edit]

A video of six competitions during the show in 2019: underhand chopping, axe throwing, hot sawing, woodchopping, tree climbing, and logrolling

The show has a one-hour run time and has 13 events.[4][12] Shannon Sherman of the Lincoln Journal Star found the performance to be "somewhat scripted, but the competition is real".[29] It features experienced Alaskan lumberjacks displaying a decent amount of theatricality while vying in assorted events including axe throwing, boom running, bucksawing, chainsaw carving, crosscut sawing, hot sawing, logrolling, obstacle pole racing, relay racing, speed climbing, tree climbing, tree topping, underhand chopping, and woodchopping.[a] For tree climbing, the contestants scale a tree that is 50 feet (15 m) tall and then free fall.[8][34] In another tree climbing version, they climb up a pole, equipped with only a leather strap and shoes with spiked soles. The logrolling event takes place in a pool of water that is not deep. While trying to get the other person to fall off the log first, the two lumberjacks seek to soak each other. While using complicated footwork to remain on the log, they submerge their foot and splash their adversary.[18] Travel columnist Tom Adkinson compared their dancing to that of the dancer and singer Fred Astaire.[35]

The competition is between two groups.[36] One group of two lumberjacks competes for the Spruce Mill team of Ketchikan, while another group of two competes for the Dawson Creek team of the Yukon.[12][14][37] A master of ceremonies (MC) discusses Southeast Alaska's lumber industry history.[2] The MC announces the events and hypes up the showgoers, who depending on where they are seated root for one of either the American team or Canadian team.[12][23][37] The lumberjacks vie to win, earning the title of Bull of the Woods.[38] Some of the lumberjacks previously appeared on the Outdoor Channel and ESPN.[39] The contestants use the role as an opportunity to prepare for more lucrative tournaments in other places.[36] The MC gives a woodchip to a supporter of the team that won at the conclusion of every contest.[12] People shouting "YoHo", a lumberjack chant, and seated close to the front could receive a reward.[38][40]

When the performance ends, the lumberjacks take photos with audience members and sign autographs.[39] The audience members can purchase more expensive tickets for additional activities. One add-on is an axe throwing contest.[10] Another is to partake in all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab once the performance is over.[22][41]

Analysis[edit]

Matt Bolton, a performer, competes in the springboard chop event in 2009.

Eric Moya of Travel Weekly compared the show to the television show Hee Haw and the medieval-style dinner theater show Medieval Times. He found that there were numerous "gentle, dad-jokey puns" and audience participation through call and response. According to Moya, the show emphasized showmanship above winning. In one event, a lumberjack feigned having trouble with carving a rabbit. Within several seconds, he reshaped the flawed rabbit into a chair for kids with several adept cuts. Moya continued that he was uncertain whether lumberjacks usually wore "sleeveless flannel", though there were no reports of discontent regarding the "bare, muscular, ax-wielding arms" visible to the audience.[10]

The scholars Thomas F. Thornton and Paraphit Wanasuk cited the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show as an example of a cultural attraction related to natural resources that focuses on settlers to Alaska instead of on Alaska Natives.[42] Fran Wenograd Golden and Gene Sloan of Frommer's said a lot of the character of Ketchikan they had enjoyed had disappeared owing to tourist attractions including the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show.[43]

Reception[edit]

Two lumberjacks compete in the logrolling event in 2009.

Len Testa and his coauthors praised the show, writing, "The lumberjacks impress with their feats of skill, and anyone who appreciates male eye candy will be delighted".[44] Saying the show will captivate children, Fodor's found the show to be a "Disneyesque" showcase of olden woodsman prowess and "a little hokey" yet "good fun".[7] Moon Publications travel writer Lisa Maloney said that although the show was "corny", it was "a true competition that's a ton of fun to watch".[22] The travel writer Carol Fowler said the show gives likely gives "historical insights" despite being "pure, corny entertainment" that viewers discuss afterwards during dinner.[37] DK writers Deanna Swaney and Eric Amrine found that there was eager audience participation because of how enthralling the show was.[9]

Insight Guides called the show "light-hearted and engaging", while Fodor's found it "hackneyed but always popular".[45][46] Paul Whitfield, a Rough Guides author, deemed it an "extravaganza" with "the tenor of a circus sideshow".[23] The New Zealand Herald's Nicola Lamb praised the show as being "a fun taste of the culture". She said the lumberjacks' demonstration of axe throwing and woodchopping evinces "the winning raucous style Americans do better than anybody".[47] The Everett Herald's Jennifer Bardsley stated that the show's name should be "the Really Expensive Lumberjack Show, but at least it was entertaining".[48]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ References for the events:

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Bowlen, Scott (2013-11-17). "Lumberjack Show renovations under way". Ketchikan Daily News. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  2. ^ a b c d Campbell, Cynthia V. (2000-03-26). "Cruises give Alaska tourists northern exposure". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  3. ^ Kheiry, Leila (2010-09-03). "Ketchikan lumberjack pulls Alaska tourist out of water". Ketchikan Daily News. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Marshall, Travis. "The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show". AFAR. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  5. ^ Lobley, Katrina (2018-10-18). "Cruise Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska: Glaciers, gold, bears and beads". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  6. ^ Testa et al. 2017, p. 346
  7. ^ a b c d Ballas et al. 2019
  8. ^ a b Ballas et al. 2009, p. 167
  9. ^ a b c Swaney & Amrine 2010, p. 128
  10. ^ a b c Moya, Eric (2020-03-06). "Competition and comedy at Ketchikan attraction". Travel Weekly. Northstar Travel Group. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  11. ^ Cruz, Georgina (2015-07-19). "Enjoying local culture in Ketchikan, Alaska". Press Journal. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b c d e Braun, Kevin (2003-09-07). "Lumberjacks cut up in showcase of skills". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Chandonnet 2006, p. 39
  14. ^ a b Campbell, Jennifer; Campbell, Mark (2016-09-06). "The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show: Fun in Ketchikan". TravelPulse. Northstar Travel Group. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Hutchison, Kristan (2000-07-16). "Timber becomes a sideshow - Loggers bristle to see industry turned into entertainment". Juneau Empire. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  16. ^ Bouchner, Julie (2023-03-01). "Holland America Line Announces Free Immersive Travel Expo in Seattle". Porthole Cruise Magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  17. ^ DuFresne, Bodry & Kelly 2012, p. 84
  18. ^ a b Nisenbaum, Shana (April 2007). "Alaska: Big, Bold and Bountiful. The Last Frontier is a tourism potpourri: Alaska is every outdoorman's dream, but if the idea of roughing it doesn't thrill you, there's still plenty to appreciate". Alaska Business Monthly. Vol. 23, no. 4. pp. 139–142. ISSN 8756-4092. EBSCOhost 24687117. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Gale.
  19. ^ a b Miller 2008, p. 145
  20. ^ a b Adams 2018, p. 49
  21. ^ Wadley, Carma (2002-08-25). "Ketchikan Alaska". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  22. ^ a b c d Maloney 2017, p. 50
  23. ^ a b c d Whitfield 2004, p. 87
  24. ^ Anderson, Hall (2003-08-15). "Speed Climbing in Ketchikan". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  25. ^ "Photo Finish". Santa Maria Times. Associated Press. 2003-08-15. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Heimerman, Christopher (2006-03-05). "2006 Sports Show Scheers, lumberjacks keep rollin'". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  27. ^ a b Malouf, Kody (2022-07-01). "Ironjack is back this Fourth of July: Timber sports competition returns". Ketchikan Daily News. Archived from the original on 2024-06-04. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  28. ^ a b Gleason, Spencer (2018-07-07). "Lumberjacks compete for Ironjack". Ketchikan Daily News. Archived from the original on 2024-06-04. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  29. ^ Sherman, Shannon (2005-10-01). "Alaskan Summer: What can you do with 20 hours of daylight? Plenty in Alaska" (pages 1, 2, and 3). Lincoln Journal Star. Archived from the original (pages 1, 2, and 3) on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ a b c d e "Alaska lets chips fall: Logger's sports new tourist draw for Ketchikan" (pages 1 and 2). The Province. 2000-04-09. Archived from the original (pages 1 and 2) on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ Hannafin, Matt. "Disney Does Alaska: A Toddler's Take on Cruising". Frommer's. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  32. ^ Devine 2016, p. 69
  33. ^ Sarna & Hannafin 2007, p. 394
  34. ^ Ballas et al. 2016, p. 259
  35. ^ Adkinson, Tom (2019-06-28). "Watching lumberjacks dance like Fred Astaire in Alaska". Knoxville Daily Sun. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  36. ^ a b Readicker-Henderson & Readicker-Henderson 2009, p. 154
  37. ^ a b c Fowler 2009, p. 122
  38. ^ a b Kirkland 2014, pp. 214–215
  39. ^ a b Brandon & Spritzer 2011, p. 201
  40. ^ McRary, Amy (2011-09-11). "Fine feudin' fun. Athletes turn timber into toothpicks at Pigeon Forge's newest show". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ Pottinger, Dave (2024-01-07). "The top seven Alaska shore excursions". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  42. ^ Thornton & Wanasuk 2016, p. 24
  43. ^ Golden & Sloan 2015, p. 192
  44. ^ Testa et al. 2017, p. 347
  45. ^ Insight Guides 2018
  46. ^ Kernaghan et al. 2004, p. 156
  47. ^ Lamb, Nicola (2023-08-19). "Cruise Alaska: Why so many travellers choose to see Alaska by cruise ship". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  48. ^ Bardsley, Jennifer (2013-07-14). "Cruise to Alaska feeds the soul, and the waistline". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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