If you've been in town a while and attended the Squamish Days Parade last Sunday you may have noted a lack of logging trucks creeping down Cleveland from small, independent companies that used to common here. You may have also heard people discussing this or even complaining to their friends that they missed the big trucks.
But they should note it is difficult for these companies to represent themselves when they no longer exist and it is hard to put employees on their floats when there are few logging families left in town.
Softwood lumber, a lack of trees, whatever the reason, we are not the logging community we once were but this is all the more reason to celebrate Squamish Days and the industry that built our town.
And other people agree. Organizers thought this was one of the best turnouts in recent years. The line-up for the Elks' legendary pancake breakfast stretched from Cleveland to Second Avenue. The tables were full of families, small children and people taking the opportunity to be a part of the community and eat pancakes outside.
These people probably didn't notice the lack of trucks, but they probably did notice the whole town of Squamish coming together for a weekend to embrace our logging past.
You could tell who were first-time visitors at Sunday's Logger Sports were. They gasped when Jesse Elliot, AKA Paula the Clown, started doing his dance and head stands on top of the 80-foot pole. When his estranged lover came out on to the ground began firing her rifle some people even covered their eyes because they did not already know how the story would end and that's great.
For first-time viewers, logger sports is a unique experience that introduces them to this tradition of strength and power as loggers hurl axes and heave saws and attack large pieces of wood armed with a chainsaw.
The town needs stuff like this. In light of oil spills, chemical spills and floods it is great to have a weekend to share our past and embrace our future. It will be interesting to see how the younger generation moving to town will embrace the weekend. In the future, Quest University students might dominate the Bed Races and eco-tourism businesses may be represented in parade floats.
Whatever the scenario, as years go by the festival will be less and less a celebration by local forestry families and more of a historical reminder of an industry upon which the town was based.
So don't miss the logging trucks, celebrate the parade where they once were honoured. Make your own float next year (its only $20 to enter), and identify with how the town is moving into the future while staying connected to the past.
