Benutzer:Shi Annan/Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show
Vorlage:Short description Vorlage:Infobox stage production The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is a lumberjack show performed in Ketchikan, Alaska. Established in May 2000 by Rob Scheer, the show is put on by the Wisconsin-based Lumberjack Sports International. Located near the Ketchikan Creek, the show's venue has 475 seats and is at the former site of the Ketchikan Spruce Mill, which closed in 1993. Ketchikan's economy once had a heavy reliance on the wood industry, peaking at the beginning of the 20th century but declining by the 1990s. The show pays homage to the city's lumber history.
Two teams of two lumberjacks each compete for the title of "King of the Woods". One team represents the Spruce Mill team of Ketchikan, while the other represents the Dawson Creek team of the Yukon. With a one-hour run time, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show features 13 events. The events include axe throwing, boom running, bucksawing, chainsaw carving, crosscut sawing, hot sawing, logrolling, obstacle pole racing, relay racing, speed climbing, tree climbing, tree topping, underhand chopping, and woodchopping.
Location and venue
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]Performed in Ketchikan, Alaska, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is located close to the mouth of Ketchikan Creek, near the city's waterfront.[1][2][3] The show's venue is one block away from where cruise ships anchor.[4][5] It is next to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center. [6][7][8] The show takes place on the former location of the Ketchikan Spruce Mill, which was built in 1898 and ceased operations in 1993 and used to be the biggest spruce mill worldwide.[9] The location remained unused until the show opened there.[10]
The show is performed in an all-weather amphitheatre containing a heated and enclosed grandstand.[7][9] The seats are cushioned.[11] The grandstand has 475 seats and is accessible to people with disabilities.[12][13] The venue showcases historic photos and relics related from the timber industry.[2][14]
History
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]Founded by Rob Scheer in Ketchikan, Alaska, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show was first performed in May 2000.[15][16] The show is run by the Wisconsin-based Lumberjack Sports International, which has events shown on ABC, ESPN, the Outdoor Life Network, and TNN. The company employed two groups who traveled in semi-trailer trucks equipped with tree trunks people could scale.[15] In the show's first season, passengers of cruise ships that docked in Ketchikan could purchase the show's tickets on the ships.[15] The show is popular with cruise ship passengers.[17] Running between May and September, it is performed between one and five times every day.[4][18]
Ketchikan's economy used to rely significantly on the wood industry, reaching its height at the beginning of the 20th century.[19][20] Southeastern United States lumberjacks visited Ketchikan in the summers to vie for the title of "King of the Woods".[19] Timber groups at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century engaged in contests. The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show recreates the contests from that era.[21] The lumber industry diminished in the 1990s, and the city's economy became fully committed to tourism.[20][22] The show pays homage to the city's lumber history.[22] The Ketchikan Pulp Company, a nearby pulp mill, had not long ago shut down, causing the unemployment of 1,700 workers in the logger sector.[15][23] Between 1995 and 2000, the number of loggers in Naukati Bay who went every day to the forest for work dropped from 70 to roughly nine. When the show premiered, the loggers believed that the show could offer employment to them. The show, however, hired its cast from outside of Alaska.[15] The loggers became exasperated that a tourist show aimed to make money from a market in decline.[23] Mike Schafer, the planner for the Prince of Wales Fair and Logging Show held in Thorne Bay, said that loggers viewed the show as "kind of going to a zoo and seeing a bear in a cage instead of seeing it out in the wild" and "kind of a slam on the timber industry". The Ketchikan-based Alaska Forest Association, a forestry industry group, disagreed, praising the show as allowing tourists to learn about the forestry sector's historical background.[15]
The venue was used to host the Iron Jack and Iron Jill World Championships in 2003.[24][25] By 2006, the Travel Channel had called the show Alaska's second most visited tourist attraction.[26] The venue underwent renovations in 2013 after that season's performances had finished. The grandstand was moved to be several feet further from the Thomas Basin seawall. The show moved the accessible seating, the poles for climbing, and the logrolling pond. The aim was to move the audience nearer the performers and to improve the efficiency of moving within the venue.[1]
The show resumed hosting the Timber Carnival, where the Ironjack contest takes place, in 2023. It had paused contests for two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Timber Carnival raises money for the Sheila June Scheer Memorial Scholarship, which helps several high school students based in Southeast Alaska. The scholarship honors founder Rob Scheer's wife; she died in 2016 of a brain aneurysm.[27][28] Eight contestants vie in eight activities such as a boom run, "rigging", sawing, and wood chopping. The event gives contestants $6,000 in cash rewards.[27] Boone Scheer, Rob Scheer's son and Sheila June Scheer's stepson, won the competition in 2016, 2017, and 2018.[28]
Show
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]The show has a one-hour run time and has 13 events.[4][12] Shannon Sherman of the Lincoln Journal Star found the performance to be "somewhat scripted, but the competition is real".[29] It features experienced Alaskan lumberjacks displaying a decent amount of theatricality while vying in assorted events including axe throwing, boom running, bucksawing, chainsaw carving, crosscut sawing, hot sawing, logrolling, obstacle pole racing, relay racing, speed climbing, tree climbing, tree topping, underhand chopping, and woodchopping.Vorlage:Efn For tree climbing, the contestants scale a tree that is Vorlage:Convert tall and then free fall.[8][30] In another tree climbing version, they climb up a pole, equipped with only a leather strap and shoes with spiked soles. The logrolling event takes place in a pool of water that is not deep. While trying to get the other person to fall off the log first, the two lumberjacks seek to soak each other. While using complicated footwork to remain on the log, they submerge their foot and splash their adversary.[18] Travel columnist Tom Adkinson compared their dancing to that of the dancer and singer Fred Astaire.[31]
The competition is between two groups.[32] One group of two lumberjacks competes for the Spruce Mill team of Ketchikan, while another group of two competes for the Dawson Creek team of the Yukon.[12][14][33] A master of ceremonies (MC) discusses Southeast Alaska's lumber industry history.[2] The MC announces the events and hypes up the showgoers, who depending on where they are seated root for one of either the American team or Canadian team.[12][23][33] The lumberjacks vie to win, earning the title of Bull of the Woods.[34] Some of the lumberjacks previously appeared on the Outdoor Channel and ESPN.[35] The contestants use the role as an opportunity to prepare for more lucrative tournaments in other places.[32] The MC gives a woodchip to a supporter of the team that won at the conclusion of every contest.[12] People shouting "YoHo", a lumberjack chant, and seated close to the front could receive a reward.[34][36]
When the performance ends, the lumberjacks take photos with audience members and sign autographs.[35] The audience members can purchase more expensive tickets for additional activities. One add-on is an axe throwing contest.[10] Another is to partake in all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab once the performance is over.[22][37]
Analysis
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]Eric Moya of Travel Weekly compared the show to the television show Hee Haw and the medieval-style dinner theater show Medieval Times. He found that there were numerous "gentle, dad-jokey puns" and audience participation through call and response. According to Moya, the show emphasized showmanship above winning. In one event, a lumberjack feigned having trouble with carving a rabbit. Within several seconds, he reshaped the flawed rabbit into a chair for kids with several adept cuts. Moya continued that he was uncertain whether lumberjacks usually wore "sleeveless flannel", though there were no reports of discontent regarding the "bare, muscular, ax-wielding arms" visible to the audience.[10]
The scholars Thomas F. Thornton and Paraphit Wanasuk cited the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show as an example of a cultural attraction related to natural resources that focuses on settlers to Alaska instead of on Alaska Natives.[38] Fran Wenograd Golden and Gene Sloan of Frommer's said a lot of the character of Ketchikan they had enjoyed had disappeared owing to tourist attractions including the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show.[39]
Reception
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]Len Testa and his coauthors praised the show, writing, "The lumberjacks impress with their feats of skill, and anyone who appreciates male eye candy will be delighted".[40] Saying the show will captivate children, Fodor's found the show to be a "Disneyesque" showcase of olden woodsman prowess and "a little hokey" yet "good fun".[7] Moon Publications travel writer Lisa Maloney said that although the show was "corny", it was "a true competition that's a ton of fun to watch".[22] The travel writer Carol Fowler said the show gives likely gives "historical insights" despite being "pure, corny entertainment" that viewers discuss afterwards during dinner.[33] DK writers Deanna Swaney and Eric Amrine found that there was eager audience participation because of how enthralling the show was.[9]
Insight Guides called the show "light-hearted and engaging", while Fodor's found it "hackneyed but always popular".[41][42] Paul Whitfield, a Rough Guides author, deemed it an "extravaganza" with "the tenor of a circus sideshow".[23] The New Zealand Herald s Nicola Lamb praised the show as being "a fun taste of the culture". She said the lumberjacks' demonstration of axe throwing and woodchopping evinces "the winning raucous style Americans do better than anybody".[43] The Everett Herald s Jennifer Bardsley stated that the show's name should be "the Really Expensive Lumberjack Show, but at least it was entertaining".[44]
Footnotes
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]References
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]Bibliography
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]- Mark Adams: Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier. Dutton Penguin, New York 2018, ISBN 978-1-101-98510-6, S. 49 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Teekas Ballas, Joey Besl, David Cannamore, Alexander Deedy, Amy Fletcher, Danwell Smith: Fodor's Alaska. 36. Auflage. Fodor's, New York 2019, ISBN 978-1-64097-152-3 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Teekas Ballas, Joey Besl, Linda Coffman, Amy Fletcher, Chris McBeath, Susan Sommer, AnnaMaria Stephens: Fodor's the Complete Guide to Alaska Cruises. Hrsg.: Douglas Stalling. 2. Auflage. Fodor's, New York 2016, ISBN 978-1-101-87966-5, S. 259 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Teeka Ballas, Catherine Bodry, Jessica Bowman, Linda Coffman, Carolyn Heller, Sue Kernaghan, Chris McBeath, Celeste Moure: Fodor's Alaska Ports of Call 2009. Hrsg.: Kelly Kealy. Fodor's, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-4000-0707-3, S. 167 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Pam Brandon, Lois Spritzer: Birnbaum's Disney Cruise Line 2012. Disney Enterprises, Inc., New York 2011, ISBN 978-1-4231-6622-1, S. 201 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Ann Chandonnet: Alaska's Inside Passage. Hrsg.: Jennifer Paull. Fodor's, New York 2006, ISBN 978-1-4000-1480-4, S. 39 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Bob Devine: National Geographic Traveler: Coastal Alaska: Ports of Call and Beyond. National Geographic Society, Washington D.C. 2016, ISBN 978-1-4262-1635-0, S. 69 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Jim DuFresne, Catherine Bodry, Robert Kelly: Alaska. 10. Auflage. Lonely Planet, Oakland, California 2012, ISBN 978-1-74179-696-4, S. 84 (archive.org [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024] [1983]).
- Carol Fowler: Explorer's Guide Alaska Panhandle: A Great Destination. The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont 2009, ISBN 978-1-58157-095-3, S. 122 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Fran Wenograd Golden, Gene Sloan: Frommer's EasyGuide to Alaskan Cruises and Ports of Call. Hrsg.: Pauline Prommer. Frommer's, New York 2015, ISBN 978-1-62887-096-1, S. 192 (archive.org [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Insight Guides Pocket Alaska Ports of Call. 2. Auflage. Insight Guides, London 2018, ISBN 978-1-78671-967-6 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Sue Kernaghan, Melissa Klurman, Don Pitcher, Sarah Sper: Fodor's Alaska Ports of Call. Hrsg.: Mary Beth Bhoman. 6. Auflage. Fodor's, New York 2004, ISBN 1-4000-1306-2, S. 156 (archive.org [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Erin Kirkland: Alaska on the Go: Exploring the 49th State with Children. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, Alaska 2014, ISBN 978-1-60223-221-1, S. 214–215 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Lisa Maloney: Moon Alaska. Hrsg.: Kimberly Ehart. Moon Publications, Berkeley, California 2017, ISBN 978-1-63121-497-4, S. 50 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- M. Mike Miller: Alaska's Southeast: Touring the Inside Passage. 11. Auflage. Morris Communications, Guilford, Connecticut 2008, ISBN 978-0-7627-4535-7, S. 145 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024] [1983]).
- Ed Readicker-Henderson, Lynn Readicker-Henderson: Adventure Guide to Coastal Alaska and the Inside Passage. Hunter Publishing, Edison, New Jersey 2009, ISBN 978-1-58843-153-0, S. 154 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Heidi Sarna, Matt Hannafin: Cruise Vacations For Dummies 2007. Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey 2007, ISBN 978-0-471-78863-8, S. 394 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Deanna Swaney, Eric Amrine: DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Alaska. Hrsg.: Arundhti Bhanot. DK, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-7566-6199-1, S. 128 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024] [2006]).
- Len Testa, Erin Foster, Laurel Stewart, Ritchey Halphen: The Unofficial Guide to Disney Cruise Line 2017. Hrsg.: Lisa C. Bailey. The Unofficial Guides, Birmingham, Alabama 2017, ISBN 978-1-62809-064-2, S. 346–347 (archive.org [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Thomas F. Thornton, Paraphit Wanasuk: Political Ecology and Tourism. Routledge, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-138-85246-4, Indigenous tourism as a sustainable social-environmental enterprise: the political ecology of tourism in Southeast Alaska, 24 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
- Paul Whitfield: The Rough Guide to Alaska. Hrsg.: Jeff Cranmer. 2. Auflage. Rough Guides, New York 2004, ISBN 1-84353-258-1, S. 87 (google.com [abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024]).
External links
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten][[Category:2000 establishments in Alaska]] [[Category:Ketchikan, Alaska]] [[Category:Lumberjack sports]] [[Category:Tourist attractions in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska]]
- ↑ a b Scott Bowlen: Lumberjack Show renovations under way ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Webarchiv archive.today) In: Ketchikan Daily News, 17. November 2013. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b c Cynthia V. Campbell: Cruises give Alaska tourists northern exposure ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Webarchiv archive.today) In: The Advocate, 26. März 2000. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Leila Kheiry: Ketchikan lumberjack pulls Alaska tourist out of water ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: Ketchikan Daily News, 3. September 2010. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b c Vorlage:Cite magazine
- ↑ Katrina Lobley: Cruise Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska: Glaciers, gold, bears and beads ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: The Sydney Morning Herald, 18. Oktober 2018. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b c Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b c Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b c Vorlage:Cite magazine
- ↑ Georgina Cruz: Enjoying local culture in Ketchikan, Alaska ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: Press Journal, 19. Juli 2015. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b c d e Kevin Braun: Lumberjacks cut up in showcase of skills ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7. September 2003. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b Jennifer Campbell, Mark Campbell: The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show: Fun in Ketchikan ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive), Northstar Travel Group, 6. September 2016. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b c d e f Kristan Hutchison: Timber becomes a sideshow - Loggers bristle to see industry turned into entertainment ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Webarchiv archive.today) In: Juneau Empire, 16. Juli 2000. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Julie Bouchner: Holland America Line Announces Free Immersive Travel Expo in Seattle ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive), 1. März 2023. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Cite magazine
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Carma Wadley: Ketchikan Alaska ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: Deseret News, 25. August 2002. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b c d Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b c d Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Hall Anderson: Speed Climbing in Ketchikan ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Webarchiv archive.today) In: Anchorage Daily News, 15. August 2003. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Photo Finish ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: Santa Maria Times, 15. August 2003. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Christopher Heimerman: 2006 Sports Show Scheers, lumberjacks keep rollin' ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Webarchiv archive.today) In: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5. März 2006. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b Kody Malouf: Ironjack is back this Fourth of July: Timber sports competition returns ( des vom 4. Juni 2024 im Webarchiv archive.today) In: Ketchikan Daily News, 1. Juli 2022. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b Spencer Gleason: Lumberjacks compete for Ironjack ( des vom 4. Juni 2024 im Webarchiv archive.today) In: Ketchikan Daily News, 7. Juli 2018. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Sherman, Shannon (2005-10-01). "Alaskan Summer: What can you do with 20 hours of daylight? Plenty in Alaska" (pages 1, 2, and 3). Lincoln Journal Star. Archived from the original (pages 1, 2, and 3) on 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-06-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Tom Adkinson: Watching lumberjacks dance like Fred Astaire in Alaska ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: Knoxville Daily Sun, 28. Juni 2019. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b c Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Amy McRary: Fine feudin' fun. Athletes turn timber into toothpicks at Pigeon Forge's newest show ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: Knoxville News Sentinel, 11. September 2011. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Dave Pottinger: The top seven Alaska shore excursions ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: Vancouver Sun, 7. Januar 2024. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Vorlage:Harvnb
- ↑ Nicola Lamb: Cruise Alaska: Why so many travellers choose to see Alaska by cruise ship ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: The New Zealand Herald, 19. August 2023. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024
- ↑ Jennifer Bardsley: Cruise to Alaska feeds the soul, and the waistline ( des vom 8. Juni 2024 im Internet Archive) In: The Everett Herald, 14. Juli 2013. Abgerufen am 8. Juni 2024