Chainsaws, climbing, missing toes and safety gear. 50 years of the Buckley Log Show

Who knew you could do so much with a log?

A group of contestants will saw, splice, chop, roll, chain and buck their way through the Buckley Log Show on Saturday and Sunday, building on a legacy that stretches back to 1973 at the height of the timber industry in the city of Buckley.

Besides cutting wood, the two-day competition challenges contestants to shinny up wooden poles, wield heavy machinery, throw axes and more in a demanding test of strength and skill. All are welcome at this free, family-friendly event that Buckley Log Show president and announcer Jeff Fetter says draws crowds that reach up to 5,000 people each year.

Contestants compete for a chance to win trophies, prizes and the coveted All Around Logger title by earning the most points across events. There’s also a beer garden for visitors 21+ and a separate area for families, and the Buckley Chamber of Commerce sponsors a parade on Saturday and a street fair on North River Road on both days of the show.

The parade on Main Street will begin at 10 a.m. followed by the Log Show at noon at the Buckley Log Show Grounds on Saturday, June 29. The top six qualifiers from each event on Saturday will compete in those same events on Sunday, June 30 starting at 11 a.m. for a chance to win first, second or third place trophies. There will also be a few extra events only on Sunday such as the crew relay, which involves teams working together to complete the event.

A group of Buckley residents including many loggers like Gordon Juhl, Leon Wickizer, Ron Bowen and others spearheaded the show in its early years. It was originally called the Buckley Loggers’ Rodeo.

Fetter said the show highlights the city’s timber history. The opening of a railroad brought lumberjacks as well as miners, mill workers and farmers to the thick forests of Buckley in the late 19th century, according to the town’s own Foothills Historical Museum. Logging became a significant part of Buckley’s economy and culture.

“It’s just what Buckley was built on,” Fetter said in a phone call with The News Tribune.

‘Just stuff we do everyday in the woods’

Many of the log show events test traditional logging skills and have competitors use gear that loggers have used for years. That’s the case for the speed climbing event, which involves racing up a 75-foot tall wooden pole with nothing but a belt, a rope and tree spurs that help the logger grip the surface of the wood.

Just like real logging, competing in the show is not without risks. Fetter said there are safety measures in place, like an aid car in case anyone gets hurt and required protective gear for competitors, but they’ve seen many injuries over the years. Fetter said he broke his leg competing several years ago and had to have surgery. Other contestants have cut their toes off and had to have stitches.

According to Fetter, it’s “just stuff we do everyday in the woods.”

Billy Clinkingbeard has been competing in the log show since he was 3, when he competed in the junior version of the show that always takes place the weekend before the adult one. This year, he’s going for his 10th consecutive title as All Around Logger, the award for the contestant who earns the most points by placing first, second or third in the show’s various events. He holds the record for most All Around Logger wins of any contestant.

Billy Clinkingbeard was only 9 when his dad, Bill Clinkingbeard, passed away. Bill had won All Around Logger in 1978. Billy Clinkingbeard and his wife Baratyah have two children, Mila and Liam, who are now competing in the junior log show.

Another father-son pair, Bud and Tyson Hanson, also won All Around Logger in separate years. Billy Clinkingbeard, who is friends with Tyson, said the two sometimes joke about which of their sons will win All Around Logger first and beat the other to a third-generation victory.

Like many other contestants, Billy Clinkingbeard is a logger by trade, currently working for S&W Logging. He has a tattoo on his arm with images of several delicately inked old-growth trees, based on pictures of trees that he’s climbed, topped, rigged and memorized the location of. Etched into one of the branches is a hidden number 14, to represent him being the 14th All Around Logger of the Buckley Log Show.

The show gets to the heart of what logging means to the people who work in the industry.

“Usually every competitor or every even older guy who’s out there has logged at some point in their life, and they all enjoyed it,” Billy Clinkingbeard said. “So I think they like to come out here and kind of relive their youth a little bit.”

Bo Carlson, whose father Jeff Carlson was the one who helped Billy Clinkingbeard start training for the competition as a kid, has a friendly rivalry with Billy Clinkingbeard for this year’s All Around Logger title. Clinkingbeard beat Bo by 6 points last year.

Bo Carlson said it was a blast competing against Clinkingbeard last year and that they’ve since been practicing together and bouncing ideas off of each other.

‘I just like the way the town comes together’

This year in particular will honor those who have been a part of the show’s long history. Fetter said many past All Around Logger winners from previous years will be there, along with several past recipients of the “Bull of the Woods” award.

The “Bull of the Woods” award recognizes retired loggers for their contributions to the timber industry. Recipients are recognized during the show and their life story is printed in the program. They are also celebrated at a special dinner in April, according to Fetter. This year’s recipient is Gene Rawson.

The show’s previous clowns “Spike” and “Jypo,” who entertained the audience before passing the torch to the current clown “Timbrr,” are also traveling up from other states to be at the event this year. Their job is to keep the audience entertained.

Jake Johnson, the man behind “Timbrr” and a former logger and log show contestant himself, looks forward to spraying the audience with fire hoses, bantering back and forth with announcer Fetter and making people laugh at the event. His wife Julie handles all his music and helps him prepare for his stunts behind the scenes.

“A lot of kids look up to us out in the arena and it’s just kind of fun,” Johnson said.

A committee oversees the preparations for the event each year and meets year-round, and also handles the proceeds raised by the show each year. In the early years, the show’s organizers took inspiration from the Deming Logging Show’s fund for “busted up loggers” to start their own fund to help injured loggers pay some of their bills.

As a nonprofit, the Buckley Log Show has since expanded to donate to food banks and give out student scholarships in Enumclaw, Orting and Buckley, as well as to give to residents they hear are struggling, according to Fetter.

The show also benefits some of the business owners along Main Street by bringing in visitors for the big weekend. The Firehouse Pub on Main Street usually has a family-friendly event on Friday evening and a beer garden event Saturday with live music in the extended parking lot behind their business.

“I just like the way the town comes together and celebrates being in Buckley,” Mark Lemoine, a long-time resident of Buckley whose wife Denys competes in the log show, said.

Buckley Mayor Beau Burkett recently proclaimed the last full weekend in June as “Buckley Log Show Weekend” in recognition of the show’s 50th anniversary.