Deposit Lumberjack Festival: More than just a good time

If an arts paper runs a story about lumberjacks, but no lumberjack reads that paper, does it make a sound? Deposit, New York has its roots in lumberjacking, and its identity is rooted in the industry. The town got its name from the logging business: many years ago, as the lowest point of the Delaware River, it was the easiest place to leave logs to float to Philadelphia. It was called the deposit point, and then, simply, Deposit. It continues to be home to many a lumberjack; the mascot of Deposit High School is the Lumberjack. And then there is, of course, the Deposit Lumberjack Festival, a decades-old tradition that takes place the third weekend of each July. It was Luke Tucker, President of the Lumberjack Fest organization, who fed me that tidbit of trivia about the history of his hometown. He recalls anticipating the festival as a child: “It was something that we, as kids, right when school got out: that’s what we waited for.” I spoke with another Deposit native (a “Lumberjack,” if you will), who recalled the buildup to the event in a similar manner: “When I was a kid, it was the highlight of your year. You go down, save your money the entire time… go on these horrible, vomit-inducing rides, that were, just, the best thing ever.” That Lumberjack shall remain nameless, because, as he said, “Some of my best memories of the Lumberjack Fest were not always the nicest part of it.” Everyone knows everyone down in Deposit, from Mayor Rynerson, to the guy we’re not naming, to Luke Tucker. And when you know people for too long, well, sometimes grudges form. Enter the beer tent. There’s a tent at the festival, with beer, and security, and rules about being old enough to go inside after a certain hour. This year, there will be a craft beer tent showcasing local and regional microbreweries. But in years past, things were a little different. “Back in the day, the town kind of treated it like an airing of grievances,” Anonymous Lumberjack recalls. “The tent closed at 11. Anybody who had anything stored up for the entire year, or from high school, that was about the time to let it go, and they would just start going at each other. It was kind of beautiful in its craziness […] The last time I was down there was the first time I got accidentally pepper sprayed.” Now, Mr. Lumberjack hasn’t been to the Fest in years, but Mr. Tucker has. He, and other recent attendees, claim that things have changed. “In the last four years, there were zero fights,” he attests. “Let’s not be naïve – you get a beer tent with people elbow to elbow – there’s been no blood drawn, no ambulance called – there’s been some pushing and shoving. There will be five security guards this year. There’s a police force always at the park. For 40 years, there’s been half a dozen fist fights. But why would anybody talk about that? There’s been nothing where anybody should feel unsafe.” When I asked Mayor Rob Rynerson - who grew up in Deposit on the border of the fairgrounds - about the fisticuffs, he declared, “Somebody’s experience can’t be put on anybody but themselves. I mean, they put themselves in a situation, or an environment, that maybe they shouldn’t have.” That environment was the beer tent of the Deposit Lumberjack Fest, on the fairgrounds that bordered his childhood home. But that’s what happens when you have a big event in a small town with a lot of beer, and, despite its irresistible dramatic interest, is not what the festival is about. “There’s so much stuff that’s family-oriented,” says the mayor. “The beer tent is not really a focal point of anything, and this year, they’re planning on doing things a little different, with microbreweries, and more of a tasting.” He continues, “As years have gone by, I think that the people who were here before who have had problems, they’ve grown – they’ve got kids, they’ve got grandkids – it’s not like it’s only homegrown people and their brawlfest, or anything like that. If it was like that, ever, then it was before my time.” The mayor is 33 years old, and the festival is celebrating its 40th year. As tempting as it is to relay stories from an undisclosed source about a “shit-talking clown” who had to be escorted by police from the dunk tank at the end of his shift to avoid being assaulted by the men whose families he’d publicly slandered, let’s look at what the fest has to offer. Because it actually sounds like a good time. The three-day event kicks off on Friday night, when there will be a fireworks show, and our friends from the band Dirt Farm will play some tunes. Milkweed and Tumbleweed Highway – both bands featuring former Lumberjacks – will play on Saturday night. There will be a craft fair, and of course, carnival rides!

“What we tried to do this year was to hit every demographic, every age,” says Tucker. “We’ve got rides, a 200-foot mobile zipline, a mechanical bull – everything for 2-year-olds to full-grown adults.” What truly make this a Lumberjack Festival, though, are the lumberjack competitions, which will feature professional lumberjacks. Ax throwing, log spins – even our Mystery Lumberjack recalled a particularly memorable two-person cutting competition: “I saw a woman that was, like, eight-and-a-half months pregnant on the other half of one of those two-man saws, and I think they might have won that year.” There’s a civil service pageant for young women called the Lumber Jill contest, and a traditional raft race on Sunday, where couples make homemade rafts out of beer kegs and plywood and race down the river. And our mystery source affirms, “The beautiful baby competition is absolutely a thing.” “Some people still make it a pilgrimage,” says Lumberjack X, “especially through high school class reunions – because they do the parade down there, and they have their own floats, which is just, basically, an excuse for everyone who went to high school together to get back together, have adrink, and ride a on a float for a minute.” It’s true: we can only speak from our own experiences, and speaking from his, Mayor Rynerson declares, “It’s amazing – you see people you haven’t seen in so long if you’re from here, and if you’re not, it’s a cool little event; there’s a lot packed in. There’s something for everybody – it’s a nice little town, and it’s our pride and joy.” The Deposit Lumberjack Festival takes place July 15th-17th at the fairgrounds located at 55 Dublin Street in Deposit, NY. Visit sites.google.com/site/lumberjackfestival for more information.