'Lumberjills' rev up chain saws, crowds at DuPage fair
Strong-armed competitors with axes overhead or chain saws in hand chopped wood with speed and precision Thursday at the DuPage County Fair in what was a tribute to the forestry skills of the past - with one twist.
The lumberjacks who put their skills on display weren't really lumberjacks, but lumberjills, team members of Axe Women Loggers of Maine.
There was Kat Spencer, a 30-year-old Elmhurst native who now lives in Alberta, Canada. A daredevil who owns an indoor ax throwing range, Spencer specializes in challenges like chopping through solid logs just inches from her toes.
"I like to give my mother heart attacks," Spencer said.
There was the veteran of the group, 45-year-old Andrea Robarge, who has competed in logging sports for more than 20 years and once learned to be a burlesque dancer on an episode of ABC's "Wife Swap."
And then there was the young gun, 24-year-old Jenny McGuire, who learned to chop and saw as a three-year member of the University of Connecticut's Woodsmen team. The lumberjills revved up the crowd by revving up their specialty chain saws and racing to slice thin "cookies" off a piece of wood.
"It takes a lot of precision and a lot of accuracy to pick up those saws and make two cuts," McGuire said.
It also took a lot of chain saw cracks to keep the crowd of at least 60 fairgoers laughing during the Axe Women's fast-paced show of bucksawing, underhand chopping, log rolling and ax throwing.
Spencer lost the first sawing race, starting with an immediate disadvantage because her saw didn't fire up on the first pull of the power cord.
She must have had some "bad gas," her fellow ax women joked once the noisy saws gave way to lyrics about thirsty hitchhikers in Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar."
Even Axe Women fans got in on the wisecracking about the women's strength.
"Their arms look really cut," said Kristi Hart of Carol Stream.
Hart stopped on a whim at the stage across from the fair's beer tent to watch the show with her daughters, 7-year-old Maddie and 11-year-old Casey, who called the entire display of lumberjilling "really cool."
Viewers on Thursday included camp kids in bright T-shirts and DuPage County employees in business casual, stepping outside for a lunch break. Spencer said she enjoys putting on a show for all ages.
"Kids really get excited about it, but what I really appreciate is older folks who tell us how they remember actually using these skills," Spencer said.
Near a water gun fun carnival game, a stand selling lemonade and funnel cakes and a handful of business booths, the Axe Women's scene screams oddity and excitement - classic county fair.
The traveling band of pro choppers and ax throwers is putting on three shows a day at the fair until Sunday at 2015 Manchester Road in Wheaton.