Brightly-colored signs and flannels flooded the lumberjack field on Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. The annual Lumberjack Games were about to begin. Energy filled the crowd as the halls of Balyo and Davidson prepared to cheer for their brother halls as they competed in a battle of strength, speed and manliness.
“Lumberjack Games bring life and pride to Corban community,” Jonny Bos, RA competitor, said. “It is life derived from a shared time together and heightened by the emotional investment of competition.”
The boys walked onto the scene with war paint and high adrenaline, and the games began. Every student was ready to compete, but only one team walked away with the prize. The sister halls screamed and cheered, shouting their brothers’ names and waving their signs, in hopes of giving them that extra boost of confidence.
“I would say my favorite part of the lumberjack games is cheering for our brother hall with my group of girls,” McKenna Mathews, Balyo RA, said. “There’s something so bonding about being crazy and loud together.”
After throwing axes, chopping wood and hoisting their teammates over a wooden wall, two teams were neck and neck, with the remaining teams close behind. The fans went wild as the MC’s tallied up the scores.
“And the winner of the 2017 Lumberjack Games is Jonny’s hall!” announced MC Nathan Swanson. Cheers erupted as the members of Jonny’s hall lifted him off his feet and paraded him around the field.
“We knew we had a good shot,” Bos said. “Guys were in the right events, but one can never know for sure if things will play out as hoped.”
For Bos’ hall, their planning paid off in the end.
“BearClaw, Tire Flip, The Wall and the Log Roll were all big events for us that really brought our dreams of champions to real life,” he said.
The students, whether on the winning team or not, were full of excitement and pride as the Lumberjack Games came to an end. The sister halls swarmed their brother halls, giving over the signs they had decorated to cheer them on.
“It felt really cool to congratulate our brothers, because I could tell that they had a really good time,” Olivia Buob said. “Being able to show them I was supporting them was really cool, and it was fun to be a part of.”
The 2017 Lumberjack Games came to an end, and once again, the communities of Balyo and Davidson displayed their pride, their enthusiasm and their ability to rock flannel.
Photos by Marissa Kendall.