One of the biggest attractions of the Grand Marais Lions Club Fisherman’s Picnic has been the Lumberjack Camp, but it won’t be held this year, said its founder and director Niel Atkinson, who said he would regroup and try to come up with a better plan for success in the fall.
“We’re taking a break,” said Niel, who with his wife Jenny founded the camp in 2005 and has directed the Lumberjack Camp every year since then.
The Lumberjack Camp featured a mix of old-time logging skills such as cross-cutting with a hand saw, chopping with an ax, and ax throwing at a target along with modern events like seeing who could operate a chainsaw with the most speed and skill.
“Last year Niel put in 250 hours and I put in 150 hours to set up and run the camp,” said Jenny Atkinson.
“This past year Niel had to spend more time than usual managing his resort businesses in Costa Rica and in Oregon,” she explained.
“Really, I just don’t have time right now to give the Lumberjack Camp the time it deserves to set it up and make it successful. I’ve had tons of stuff going on with my real businesses and just don’t have the time or the energy to give this project what it really needs,” said Niel.
In addition to coordinating all of the lumberjack sports, Niel also ran a Woodmizer sawmill and demonstrated how to turn round logs into useable boards in minutes with a portable sawmill. Both Atkinsons and their little boy “Bear” were on site from early morning to late at night for all of the competitions and demonstrations during Fisherman’s Picnic.
One event that will continue is logrolling. The parents of the Northshore Rollers logrolling team will set up and run the competition, billed as the Minnesota state championships, and will assist with kids who want to take a crack at staying afoot on a spinning, wet log. Eight-time logrolling/ boom running world champion Jenny Atkinson will also lend a hand but will not have all of the duties she had in the past when she coordinated the entire program.
Also to be held again this year will be the Cook County ATV Club Coin Toss Splash. In this event, the ATV Club tosses loose change (last year $200 in coins) into the logrolling tank and lets kids dive into the tank after it. “If the logrolling tank is in town, we’ll do it again,” said ATV Club secretary Rhonda Silence.
“I want to take a look at everything in the fall and see what can be done to help the Lumberjack Camp grow. The last few years we have continued to do the same thing, but I feel like I have been beating my head against the wall. It’s been the same and it hasn’t been growing. If I can put a whole new plan together, find some new sponsors and work on introducing new events to the camp, I think it will grow and everyone will benefit. The community, the people watching, the participants—it will benefit everyone,” said Niel, adding, “Sustainability is the key. An event can take a sabbatical and come back. But if you run it into the ground, well, I’ve never seen an event come back when that happens. And I don’t have any interest in running an event that isn’t sustainable.”
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