Darby Logger Days II

If you can't read the signs, open it up on a larger screen. You won't want to miss out on the redneck wisdom.

So…..who goes to a logging festival, you may ask. White people. People who own shirts with bald eagles soaring across the front and confederate flags flapping on the back. Sarah Palin supporters and members of the Libertarian Party. People with gun racks and bumper stickers on their American-made pickup that read, “If your answer is Obama, you asked a stupid question.” People who will shoot you for being a stranger on their property. It is just one, big, happy gathering of gun-totin’, Obama-hating, freedom-loving Americans. Carter and I walked around the booths in the back of the Lumberjack Arena Fairgrounds in complete awe, albeit tinged with a tiny bit of fear.

 The fastest saw in The World: The Hot Saw. It has a V8 engine and takes two of the biggest, burliest men on the plant to operate.

We have been living out of the USA for four years now, throwing ourselves at every cultural event and festival from Honduras to Mexico and Darby Logger Days was, by far, THE most culturally enlightening event we have attended. I mean, how often is it that while asking to borrow a pen from an elderly man running a raffle booth, he tries to sell you a ticket to win a 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun? Oh, and this is a family event. AND, if shotguns aren’t your thing, a seriously intimidating Ruger 350 SP 100 hand gun was being raffled off a few booths down. I was assured by the smiling mom of three who was running the raffle that, “the gun packs a real good punch!” Was she trying to sell me tickets, or scare the crap out of me?

These hunters-in-training are dressed in full-camo and playing "Shoot the Deer". My friends and I probably would have been playing something gay, like, "Wood Faries and Garden Gnomes".

It was sort of fun to walk among "The Other" in an inconspicuous costume of similarity. I was a little frightened to open my mouth for fear that my freak-flag, flower-power views would come spilling out and get me trampled off of the fairgrounds. So I just browsed and tried not to ask too many questions, like, "So, wait... anyone can own a gun!?".

Darby Logger Days

A rare site: A hot saw hottie competes in The Cookie Stack. A competion of skill.

When the sawdust blizzard cleared, Paul Bunyan, the American legend, was staring me in the face. The burly, bearded man of the woods thrust a chainsaw high over his head and gave a victorious roar to the crowd packed into the bleachers behind me. No, he was not on a killing spree; he had just placed first in The Cookie Stack.

The Cookie Stack is one of the twenty timber sports competitions, including the axe throw, pole climb and speed chop that comprise the biggest festival of the summer in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana- Darby Logger Days. Like sawdust to honey, the event draws accomplished athletes in the lumberjack industry from around the country to flex their muscles and demonstrate their skills. In celebration of an industry and tradition that defines western Montana, it aims to keep America’s logging heritage alive.

The narrow main street of Darby was jam-packed with Harley-Davidsons and red, white and blue. The fairgrounds hosted booths with strong Libertarian messages, like: In God I Trust; the Government Is Another Story! Raffles auctioned off handguns and shotguns; corndogs and snow cones were served up to the kiddies.

Listening to the hollow thud of axes hitting wood stumps, the revved-up, buzzing whine of chainsaws and the casual voice of the MC, I marveled at this slice of the American pie, so completely foreign from my Midwestern roots. In awe of the remarkable diversity of American culture, I vowed to keep on truckin’ from sea to shining sea.

This post was entered into the totally awesome Grantourismo - HomeAwayUK Travel Writing Competition for July. We would love to hear your thoughts on the post in the comments section!