The children's corner of the festival provided fun for all ages with a petting zoo and bouncy houses.
Christina Belasco / OPB
Numerous food carts provided a great break from the heat for families at the festival.
Christina Belasco / OPB
A stack of logs remain beside a saw after the logging events were finished for the day.
Christina Belasco / OPB
Christina Belasco / OPB
The barbeque next to the beer garden was fired up and serving out food throughout the day.
Christina Belasco / OPB
A logger climbed all the way to the top of the timber poles at the center of the festival.
Christina Belasco / OPB
A logger waits his turn to jump back in the pool for the log run.
Christina Belasco / OPB
The log roll was the final event of the day for the competing loggers. With temperatures in the upper 90s, the log roll was more than welcomed by the participants.
Christina Belasco / OPB
A crowd looks on eagerly at the horse pulling event.
Christina Belasco / OPB
After climbing to the top of the timber poles, one logger ziplined down through the trees and waved his hat to the crowd.
Christina Belasco / OPB
Loggers, musicians, and families all came together under the sweltering hot sun and towering pine trees to celebrate the Estacada Timber Festival this past 4th of July weekend.
It was sweaty, dusty, and down to earth - with the smell of grass and sawdust in your nose, looking out on the crowd you’d see people clad with cut off shirts, ripped jeans, and work boots. The festival was rich with a youthful, country summer vibe.
There was a full schedule of events, which included axe throwing, log rolling, concerts, horse pulls and more. The goal of the festival, according to president Steve Stone of the Estacada Area Community Events (EACE), is to celebrate the town’s history of logging and bring the community together.
“It’s an amateur logging show. These are real, everyday loggers out there, not like the competing pros…it’s been a tradition here,” said Stone.
In fact, for many of the participants their trade runs in the family. It was that way for Jerry Lee, who had two horses running in the horse pull contest. It was one of his horses’ first year at the competition. “The sled weighs about 2,000 pounds…it takes lots of conditioning, just like an athlete. We run the horses about 2-3 miles per night,” said Lee on training for the event.
The festival began sometime in the 60s but started out as a 'water festival' at the Estacada sawmill. Then in the 70s, it was moved to the timber park where the festival thrived until the mid 90s and was shut down due to mismanagement. That's when the EACE group saw opportunity to bring back the festival and do it justice.
The timber festival is held annually in Estacada’s timber park, just outside of town. Next year, the EACE hopes the turn out will be even bigger if the weather isn’t quite so hot.