Lumberjacks, Jills, food, frogs and fun for the family

Lumberjacks, Jills, food, frogs and fun for the family

Lumberjacks and Lumber Jills will ply their skills at the annual Clarkson Good Neighbor Days events which kick off on Friday, August 24 and continue through Saturday, August 25.

“The event keeps growing in both participants and visitors,” Town of Clarkson Supervisor Paul Kimball said.

In addition to the lumberjack events, there is the ever-popular frog jumping contest. “When the start time draws near for the frog jumping contest I get a little nervous because it doesn’t look like anyone is at the starting line,” Kimball said. “But once the even kicks off, the starting line is full of frogs.”

Again this year, it’s BYOF (Bring your own frog) to the frog jumping contest. “Last year there were close to 30 frogs in the event,” he said. “The main rule of the competition is that you have to bring your own frog.”

The frogs take to the starting line at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Clarkson Good Neighbor Days kicks off at 6 p.m. on Friday, with the evening being capped off by a fireworks display at about 9:45 p.m. “We’re going to have Blue Sky play from 6 to 8:30, following that we will be showing a children’s movie,” Kimball said. “The movie will be shown on an outdoor screen and anyone wanting to watch it should bring a blanket or lawn chairs.”

Also for the younger set will be the Kids Monster Trucks and Equipment display which will be available on Friday from 6-9 p.m. “The trucks are on site and the children can sit in a dump truck, backhoe or other pieces of heavy equipment,” he said.

This year, the Brockport Fire Department will host an antique fire equipment demonstration at 7 p.m. on Friday.

As with other years, Kimball said, Good Neighbor Days continues to be a family-focused event. “We have been committed to making this the kind of event where there really is ‘something for everyone’ with free entertainment, free parking and low or no cost activities.”

Learn the lumberjacks’ terms

Watching lumberjacks and lumberjills take up their unique tools and compete for the public is not something one can see every day, but you can see it, free, at the Clarkson Good Neighbor Days on August 25.

“The lumberjack contests are exciting and unique to the area,” Town Supervisor Paul Kimball said.

“Competitors at the event will be vying for more than $3,000 in prizes.”

The level of competition and the addition of new events have increased every year which means the caliber of competitors has increased.

The events lined up in the timber sports competition include: underhand chop, two person cross cut, ax throwing, log rolling, hot saw (modified chain saws), single buck and bow saw. The “hot saw” competition involves taking an off-the-shelf chainsaw and making it into a “raging beast” or taking something that was never intended to be a chain saw - like a snowmobile engine, installing a bar and chain and calling it a chainsaw.

The spring board event that takes place during the competition is one of the hardest. Competitors begin at the bottom of a nine-foot tall pole, chop a pocket into it, sticking in a board, standing on the board and chop another pocket until they reach the top. At the top of the pole another challenge awaits - a board has to be chopped.

Men and women show up for the events in almost equal numbers, Kimball said.

Pre-registration is required for the event which kicks off at 10 a.m.

Lumberjack language primer
As unique as the sport of lumberjacking is, it comes with its own unique language. What follows is a bit of a lingo primer for the uninitiated and for those who intend on watching the competition during the Good Neighbor Days festivities. This is a short list of the lumberjack “cut-up” slang.

A lumberjack is a man who participates in the sport of log cutting.
A lumberjill is a woman who participates.
Bow saw or Swedesaw: has on person using a pulp saw to cut through a chunk of wood. A pulp saw features a 42-inch blade and the chunk of wood is usually 12 inches thick.
Ax throwing: this activity involves throwing a double bit ax at a bull’s eye target positioned 20 feet away.
Cross cut: this competition involves two people using a cross cut saw to work their way through the log.
Single buck: features female competitors at the helm of the saw.
Modified chain saw or hot saw: anything goes as far as what the competitor puts into their saw’s muffler system. This is a “souped-up” chainsaw.

Saturday packed with events

Saturday kicks off with a pancake breakfast hosted by the Brockport Firemen’s Exempts. That runs from 8 to 10 a.m. A horse show also gets underway at 8 a.m. and is sponsored by the Clarkson Horsemen’s Association. The group will also show off their longhorn steer roping skills.

The classic car Cruise-in starts at noon and is sponsored by the Western NY V-8 Club. Dash plaques will be given to the first 100 car entrants and two drink tickets and two hot dogs will be given to all cruise-in entrants.

The main event on Saturday is the lumberjack show. Lumberjacks and Jills come from across the U.S. and Canada to participate. “The competition is exciting and unique to the area,” Kimball said. (see article in this section on listing of events and lumberjack terms)

The popular silent auction, with donations from various businesses, will run from noon until 5 p.m.

Running along with all the other events are the children’s activities. Gary the Happy Pirate will make an appearance at noon to entertain the children and the older set.

Children from four to 15 years-old can drop a line in the water for the fishing derby which gets underway at 2 p.m. – that is also the same time the pie eating contest gets going.

There is a Wild West Show at 3 p.m. and the frog jumping “jumps off” at 4 p.m.

The day wraps up at 7 p.m.

There will be more food vendors than in the past and there will also be several local business and retail vendors on site.

“We’re heading into our 16th year and we continue to grow and offer more events,” Kimball said.

The Good Neighbor Days events are held at Hafner Park, Route 19 (just north of Route 104) in Clarkson.

Cruise on into Clarkson

Both classic and classy vehicles will be on display at the Cruise-in at the Good Neighbor Days event on Saturday. Car enthusiasts and on-lookers alike are invited to view the vintage vehicles as they roll into the grounds of Hafner Park.

Invitations were mailed to car buffs to come and show off their cars. The cruise-in event isn’t a competition, it is simply a way – and a venue – for classic car owners to display the vehicles in which they have invested so much time and effort.

Tickets for free hot dogs and sodas will be offered to all registered vehicle owners at the event. The first 100 vehicles registered will receive a commemorative dash plaque.

The Cruise-in is sponsored by the Western NY V-8 Club.

Get ready to bid on silent auction items

A returning favorite to the Good Neighbor Days event is the silent auction. The event features donations from local businesses and runs from noon until 5 p.m. on Saturday.

“The auction is one of our mainstays and draws a good crowd because we offer interesting items for them to bid on,” Town of Clarkson Supervisor Paul Kimball said.

While you are waiting to see if you are the successful bidder on your items of choice, you can wander over to the pie eating contest for children, which starts at 2 p.m., catch a bit of the fishing derby, enjoy the sights and sounds of the horse show and, of course, take in the excitement of the lumberjack competitions which will be underway.

Horses ride back to Good Neighbor Days

For the third year, the Clarkson Horsemen’s Association and its members will put on a horse show that begins at 8 a.m. Saturday.

The show features English show classes followed by show classes and the Western pleasure classes. Games on horseback will feature barrel racing, pole bending and more and are guaranteed to delight visitors and challenge participants.

The horseshow draws more than 100 riders and Good Neighbor Days is one of the biggest events of the year for the association.