The Minnesota State Championship boys’ and girls’ amateur log rolling competition will once again be held at Fisherman’s Picnic. This year the professional men and women rollers will be back to show off their world-class skills and to vie for cash prizes. Another bonus will be the introduction of Jamie Fisher’s lumberjack show, which should be great for spectators. Pictured above, the young lady with the black braces on her knees is Livi Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos, who is one of the, if not the best amateur ever, is now a professional. Good luck ladies.
Not only will some of the very best amateur and professional men and women log rollers in the world be here for the 2018 Fisherman’s Picnic, but for the first time ever, said event organizer Andrea Peterson, “We are happy to announce that we are also bringing in a lumberjack show.”
Jamie Fisher, the 2017 men’s professional men’s log rolling world champion, will be competing as well as bringing his Lumberjack Enterprise show to the Fisherman’s Picnic.
Fisher, who takes his show across the country, will put on three 30-minute shows and three 30-minute camps Friday, August 3, and Saturday, August 4, with crowd involvement of all ages where he and his crew will perform log rolling, boom running, crosscut, chain sawing, and axe throwing.
“We felt that this would bring the history of logging back to Grand Marais and add something different to the Picnic,” Peterson said. “We are so excited for him to be a part of our festival.”
While there will be a lot of excitement around the Lumberjack Enterprise show, there will be even more excitement once the Minnesota State Log Rolling competition starts.
The professionals will compete on Saturday, August 4, with the finals held after the Fisherman’s Picnic parade on Sunday. Jamie Fisher will have to be considered the favorite in the men’s field, but he will be pushed by several other good pros.
New to the professional women ranks is Livy Papadopoulos, from Holmen, Wisconsin.
Livi, who trains in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, was virtually unbeatable as an amateur. On June 9, the high school senior-to-be entered and won the Midwest Logrolling championships in Madison, beating a deep field of top professional women rollers. The last time Papadopoulos lost was in 2013 to Catlin Potts, from Hayward, in a very exciting, very long match at indoor nationals held in Hudson, Wisconsin.
Not to be outdone, the North Shore Rollers also have some stars of their own. Dominick Wilson and Paige Everson have both won world amateur titles while Alley Duclos looks to be closing in on a world championship of her own this summer in Hayward, Wisconsin at the Lumberjack World Championships. The team also has many other strong rollers who will vie for state championship medals at the Fisherman’s Picnic tournament.
Hosted by the North Shore Rollers, the Minnesota State Log Rolling Championships, said Peterson, promises to be bigger and better than ever.
Once again the North Shore Rollers will hold their $5 roll for kids or adults who want to try to log roll from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. Five dollars pays for 45 minutes of rolling time, and there will be a variety of experienced log rollers on hand to help give instructions.
The Minnesota State Amateur competition for various age groups will start on Saturday at 10 a.m.
“We will have two tanks this year,” said Peterson, one of the leaders of the North Shore Rollers, “the energy and excitement will definitely not disappoint.”
No event happens without help from the local community, and Peterson was quick to thank those who are lending a hand.
“We have great sponsors to help this sport continue. We couldn’t do this tournament and keep the sport going without the help of our major sponsors The Wunderbar and Glampground, North Shore Title, Glenn Peterson Construction, Grand Marais State Bank, Grand Marais Lions Club, NorthStar Cabling, Studio 61 Hair Design, Timber Wolff Realty, Hedstrom Lumber Company, and Hungry Jack Lodge.
If anyone is interested in log rolling, contact Andrea at studio61hair@hotmail.com or on Facebook to see updates and photos of North Shore Rollers.
“We encourage everyone to come and watch these kids and adults roll. They train hard and love having a large crowd to compete in front of. We will just be coming off of Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward the previous week, so we definitely will have some world champions competing at the Fisherman’s Picnic,” Peterson said.
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