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Messy fun at Woodsmen’s

The topper of Five Guys and a Pole, who rang the bell on top of the greased pole, descends triumphant on his teammate’s backs to a raucous crowd celebrating their feat. It was the first time in three years any team has run the bell. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

TUPPER LAKE — Woodsmen’s Days this year was a well-attended, messy occasion as loggers, woodcarvers and heavy equipment drivers from all over the country filled the village park with sawdust, sculptures and massive machines.

You didn’t have to be a lumberjack to attend. There we just as many Hawaiian shirts as flannel jackets around, and kids had a slew of fun stuff to do. They ran around with painted faces, waving toy guns won or bought at the stands, raced through a giant inflatable obstacle course and tried their abilities at a kids greased pole climb.

The Tupper Lake Youth Hockey Association dunk tank gave disgruntled players and taxpayers the chance to soak coaches and local politicians, if they could land a shot on the open holes of a practice net.

Hockey coach Larry Callaghan taunted shooters, heckling their slapshot style until they nailed one and landed him in cold water.

Village board Trustee Ron LaScala, who got dunked around 10 times, said the water was not too cold — albeit very dirty by the end of the day — but that the hardest part was sitting in the wind coming off Raquette Pond after getting dunked.

Waylon Wolf of Colorado Springs, Colorado, watches Shriners drive small cars in the Woodsmen’s Days parade Saturday in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Brittany Proulx)

Over on the north end of the park, the roar of half a dozen chainsaws and plumes of sawdust filled the air as carvers worked on sculptures of bears, bald eagles and Native American busts — staples of wood sculpture — as well as less conventional pieces like stingrays, skulls and Groot from the Marvel comic Guardians of the Galaxy.

Alonzo Montoya, a carver from Michigan, said this was his second time at Woodsmen’s Days after missing it last year. He said there is a community of carvers who all know each other and travel to the same events around the country together.

“I like roaming and carving at events with these guys,” Montoya said. “It’s beautiful here, too. That’s why I go.”

Montoya said he has been carving for 20 years. He had just been laid off, and after meeting a carver and seeing his work he wanted to pick up the craft.

“People kept asking if I could carve something for them, and it worked itself out from there.”

A wood carver finishes a bear statue atop a pile of sawdust Saturday at Woodsmen's Days in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

The most intense action took place on the softball field. With packed grandstands, bleachers and around 10 trucks parked on the edges of the field tailgating, the night games started off with a new event: the Bogger Run.

The obstacle course pitted two teams of two against each other in a messy, high-speed race. Teams would have to get one member into a jumpsuit, toss three eggs through a tall hoop without breaking them, then run through a culvert. Then one member, with his or her head poking though a toilet seat, would get pied in the face by the other and would have to drag them back on an inner tube.

Buck North, the announcer, said they ran out of jumpsuits for contestants to wear because they did not expect so many teams. The teams emerged slowly at first, but as people saw how much fun it looked to get messy, they started to sign up.

The event was popular with the crowd, too. Onlookers cheered on each close match, laughed at every pie in the face and cringed when a contestant fell face-first through the tube and got dragged through the dirt.

The kids did a boys-versus-girls tug-of-war with over 50 kids competing. The Lean Machine team was the winners of the men’s tug-of-war, and Rope Burn defended its seven-year winning streak in the women’s tournament.

A wood carving of Groot, a character from the Guardians of the Galaxy comics and movies, greets people at Woodsmen's Days in Tupper Lake Saturday (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Altogether, eight teams competed, lined up tugging on a rope with all their might in unison, with friends screaming at them like drill sergeants giving reverse birthing instructions.

“Pull! Pull! Come on, you pansies! Dig in!”

The climactic event, the greased pole climb, started as the sun went down. Contestants put down their boots and beer, and put dirt on over their arms and legs to better cling to the 26-foot-tall Crisco-coated pole.

There had been a drought in pole conquerors, with no team reaching the bell at the top in two years. Five Guys and a Pole broke that spell, ringing the bell on their second attempt. The tower of five guys descended triumphantly, its top man waving his arms and raining Crisco on the erupting mosh pit of celebration below.

Down at the base, throughout the event, the scene was chaos. Dudes with ripped shirts and zip-tie-repaired jeans were yelling about strategy and ability, debating their grease-soaked friends about the best placement for them on the pole. Some reached their hands upward, catching toppling towers of people. Some tried smearing Crisco on their girlfriends.

Contestants in the Bogger Run at Tupper Lake’s Woodsmen’s Days get pied in the face before taking off on the rest of the race. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Once on the pole, they scrambled over each other, hugging the pole, standing on each other’s heads and pulling themselves up by their teammate’s pockets. Occasionally, a climber would put too much faith in someone’s waistband, exposing their friend’s backside and eliciting screams from the girls in the crowd gathered below.

When one unintentional mooner yelled back, “C’mon, you know you like it!” someone informed him that he had yelled that at his niece.

The women’s teams got close, stacking up to four high at the most. Some sank from the bottom under the weight of their friends, and some toppled from the top.

At the end of the night, everyone streamed out of the park, some covered in grease, some in dirt, some in sawdust, and most with grins on their faces.

Contestants in the Bogger Run at Tupper Lake’s Woodsmen’s Days try to catch raw eggs tossed through hoops by thier teammates. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Did we take your photo at Tupper Lake Woodsmen’s Days? Check out our CU gallery to see and buy images: http://cu.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/Woodsmens-Days-2019-794.html.

Brian Dukett falls through an inner tube at the Woodsmen’s Days Bogger Run. Teammate Paige Dukett dragged him face-first across the finish line. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Shannon Clement pulls “TJ” across the finish line of the Bogger Run, still sporting the whipped cream she threw at him earlier in the race. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Around 50 kids compete in a boys-versus-girls tug-of-war at Woodsmen’s Days. The boys won. (Enterprise photos — Aaron Cerbone)

The Rope Burn team, eight-year champions of the women’s tug-of-war at Woodsmen’s Days, compete against the winners of the men’s championship, Lean Machine. Lean Machine won. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

The boots of greased pole climb contestants sit on the ground in front of the men prepare for the messy competition. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

A women's team works on climbing the greased pole Saturday night at Woodsmen's Days in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

The topper of Five Guys and a Pole rings the bell on top of the greased pole Saturday night at Woodsmen's Days in Tupper Lake. It was the first time in three years any team has run the bell. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

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