Lumberjack favorites Arden Cogar Jr. and Mike Sullivan are bringing their Lumberjack Show of Champions to the main arena for the 71st Annual Woodsmen Show being held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 4, 5 and 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County at 4639 Cherry Springs Road, Coudersport, PA 16915. The park is located about 12 miles from Galeton via West Branch Road and 15 miles from Coudersport via Route 44.  

During their one-hour shows at 11:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 4, Cogar and Sullivan will entertain the audience with humorous, informative demonstrations of the skills needed to be a lumberjack. 

Contestants in Friday’s 2 p.m. hands-on amateur competition will get to rub elbows with these lumberjack champions as Cogar, Sullivan and DCNR staff assist amateurs competing in the two-person log roll, axe throw and two-person crosscut. Amateurs must be at least 13 years of age to compete; those 13 to 17 years old must have parental consent. Register for the contest Friday morning at the DCNR trailer and practice for the contest beginning at noon. 

Visitors are encouraged to stick around to see who will win the overall lumberjack title during the professional competition on Saturday, Aug. 5 from noon to 3 p.m. As seen on television, the top lumber jacks and jills in the country will compete in eight different events, including log rolling, axe throw, springboard, tree felling, standing chop, hot chainsaw, one person buck crosscut and two-person buck crosscut.

On Sunday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., the horse pulling competition will be in the main arena. Draft horses weighing 1500 to 2000 pounds each will pull thousands of pounds of logs the same way trees were removed from the forest during the logging era. 

Jay Smar will perform different music at each show he does on Saturday between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and Sunday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. He plays two guitars, a claw-hammer banjo and fiddle and does flat footing, a type of clog dancing. A baritone, Smar sings traditional American and original folk, old-time mountain music, bluegrass and gospel tunes as well as coal mining songs of Northeast Pennsylvania. 

Woodhick Grove will feature survival skill demonstrations at different times between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 4 and 5, and between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 6. On Saturday, Aug. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Woodhick Grove, youth ages 10 to 18 participating in History Camp on Friday, Aug. 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum will demonstrate the rough and tumble 19-century woodhick skills they’ve learned, such as using a crosscut saw, rolling a log, peeling bark, and playing games like horseshoes and seed spitting.

All three days will be a treasure hunt with prizes for children 12 and under. 

Available for purchase will be a variety of food and wood-related items, such as wood-turned art, wood sculptures, rustic furniture and wooden novelties as well as commemorative T-shirts, trapping supplies, lumber maintenance products, homemade baskets, chainsaws, etc. 

During the three days, more than 10 hours are scheduled for chainsaw artists entered in the Masterpiece Competition to do a carving. These carvings can be viewed as they are created in the individual artists’ booths. Judges will pick the top three place winners for awards to be presented at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Each day, chainsaw artists will compete in one-hour Quick Carve contests to create special pieces that will be immediately auctioned off to the highest bidder. 

Being raffled off during the Woodsmen Show will be a chainsaw and powered equipment on Friday at 2:30 p.m., on Saturday at noon and 2:30 p.m.;  and powered equipment on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Must be present to win. 

Three firearms are also being raffled off on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Need not be present to win. 

The grounds are open each day at 9 a.m. Admission for adults is $10 on Friday and Sunday and $14 on Saturday. Admission for children 12 years old and under is $7 all three days. A three-day pass for adults is $24 and $16 for children 12 years old and under. Credit cards are accepted.

The Galeton Rotary Club sponsors the Woodsmen Show. All proceeds from the event are used to support local projects. For more information, contact the Galeton Rotary Club at (814) 435-6855 or visit www.woodsmenshow.com