Wappapello Woodlands Expo draws national competitors, large crowd

WAPPAPELLO —With a cool breeze blowing and the ringing of chainsaws echoing through the air at Redman Creek, Wappapello Lake’s recreation season kicked off Saturday with the fourth annual Wappapello Woodlands Expo, bringing competitors and spectators from near and far.

“This is a great start to our recreation season and a great day for this competition,” said Wappapello Lake’s new Operations Manager Bart Dearborn. “It’s great to see a lot of members of the community out here today and get to meet some folks.”

This year’s timber-sports event, said Park Ranger Jennifer Morse, likely was the biggest in its brief history, and she estimated the morning crowd at around 500 spectators.

“The cool thing about this event is you can come and go throughout the day and see a great show,” Morse said.

The competitive field this year, she said, was substantially larger than in years past.

“This is the most competitors we’ve ever had — we have 38 registered, which is a great increase. Last year, we had 24,” she said.

Not only were there competitors from the local region on hand, but also many national-level ones as well, including Stihl pros Mel Lentz and his son, Jason Lentz.

“I’m very happy with the level of the competition,” said Morse. “We have local guys out there competing against nationally-ranked Stihl Timbersports Series competitors and several guys who went to the nationals.”

Competitors, Morse said, came from as far away as Minnesota and West Virginia.

Professional logger Larry Jones, 78, has been competing in the timber sports for 60-plus years and made his first trip to Wappapello.

“They’ve got a good thing here, and they’re doing a good job,” he said of the event, just after easily beating competitors less than half his age in a preliminary chainsaw event.

The competition included the springboard, chopping blocks, under chop, single buck, standing chop, ax throw, accuracy fell and various classes of chainsaw speed events.

When not watching the events, spectators had the opportunity to visit the large variety of vendor booths set up in the Redman Creek Recreation Area.

“We have a lot of vendors here, and they’re all local,” Morse said.

Children also had the chance to compete in their own version of the “Little Lumberjack Games,” winning various prizes.

While thanking the many local sponsors, Morse described the Woodlands Expo as the brainchild of the Wappapello Lake Area Association and Boatner Enterprises.

“They’re really the ones who helped us start this event,” she said.

The hope, Morse noted, is to grow the Woodlands Expo each year.

“We’re hoping it can continue to grow because the important thing, for us, is to be able to have a community event that’s fun for the whole family and is free,” she said.

The next major event of the recreation season at Wappapello Lake will be the 41st annual Old Greenville Blackpowder Rendezvous, scheduled for April 27-28.

For more information on events at the lake, contact the operations office at 573-222-8562.