Canadian lumberjacks energize fair
<p>Darren Dean, left, and Matt Spink race Bruce Magyar and Sean Yokoyama in a cross-cut saw race on Thursday at the West Coast Lumberjacks Show at the North Idaho State Fair at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.</p>
<p>Magen Gray of Coeur d'Alene uses a cross-cut saw for the first time after she was pulled onstage from the spectating crowd on Thursday at the West Coast Lumberjacks Show at the North Idaho State Fair. "It wasn't as hard as I expected," Gray says. "I had tons of fun; those guys put on a great show."</p>
<p>Matt Spink, left, races Sean Yokoyama up a cedar tree trunk using traditional tree climbing spurs on Thursday at the West Coast Lumberjacks Show at the North Idaho State Fair at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.</p>
COEUR d’ALENE — The only thing thicker than Bruce Magyar's accent was his biceps, fully exposed outside a cut-off, suspender-strapped flannel shirt.
The Edmonton, Alberta, brute also donned rugged pants and boots in the late-summer heat Thursday, certainly looking the part of an ax-wielding, north-of-the-border lumberjack.
Magyar is a member of a traveling quintet of the Canadian group West Coast Lumberjack Shows, which entertained dozens of gawking North Idaho State Fair attendees at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.
He and owner and fellow 40-something Darren Dean are in the more stationary events, such as ax-throwing, chair carving and the chain saw race. Twenty-somethings Sean Yokoyama and Matt Spink, however, do the more nimble, adrenaline-inducing pursuits.
The high-energy act — the group is split into teams of two along with their judge and emcee, Lauren Tulk — hit its apex when Spink and Yokoyama went head-to-head in a log-rolling competition, each pumping their feet while trying to stay atop their buoyant log.
Lady Gaga's "Applause" filled the ears of onlookers, helping incite the sort of electric atmosphere Dean has seen in his nine years with the business.
"We're always making sure we're getting the crowd cheering as much as we can," Dean said. "We keep them involved in the show the whole way though."
In one event, the Jack and Jill Cross-Cut, Dean gets the crowd involved — literally.
The group picks a woman from each side of the crowd to team up with a lumberjack and vie for a prize.
Magen Gray, a Coeur d’Alene resident, was plucked from the crowd Thursday night.
“It wasn’t as hard as I
expected,” Gray says. “I had tons of fun, those guys put on a great show.”
The group does three shows a day and more than 20 shows a year. The members come from varying backgrounds — Yokoyama and Spink, both college students, fell into the business while Dean is a professional forester and Magyar has been in competitions for years.
"Wisconsin, Canada, Idaho — the accents are different, but it's the same logging culture," Magyar said.
The West Coast Lumberjack Show will continue throughout the duration of the fair. The shows begin at noon, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.