Miss-Delectable
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Keg throwing. Mud wrestling. Pole climbing. Flying axes.
No, not spring break.
Those are all featured activities this weekend at the Eastern Deaf Timberfest at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts in Natural Bridge. The biannual event drew about 500 adults and about 200 to 300 children from as far away as Poland and Japan, according to event organizers.
The pole-climbing and crosscut saw contests were in full swing in the Saturday morning heat as spectators milled around, took pictures and signed to one another.
Logger Ron Markel of Maryland was one of the original event organizers in 1994.
"I've always been going to professional logger events and thought, 'Why don't we have one?' " Markel signed through his son, Mark, who served as an interpreter during the event. Since then, event organizers have held Eastern Deaf Timberfests in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Haymarket, Va.
"The mud wrestling is one of the most popular events," signed Allen Markel, another event organizer, through an interpreter.
Events are held for men, women, children and teams. Most attendees camp in the park for the four-day event. Nonlogging events include a magician, storyteller and Dingo -- a version of Bingo with playing cards.
"One of the biggest reasons we had this event is to preserve the deaf culture in the community they're in," Allen Markel signed through an interpreter. "We've been noticing a trend that deaf organizations are shutting down due to lack of participation and so these events have really slowly disappeared."
Advances in technology such as videophones have made communication easier for the deaf, Allen Markel signed through an interpreter. But the feeling of togetherness among the deaf community has been affected by the technology, according to Markel.
Tim Siegel of Connecticut signed through an interpreter that he learned about the event on the Internet and came with his girlfriend. Siegel, 41, participated in the bucksaw, ax-throwing and chain saw events and just wanted to come to meet some deaf people and have a good time.
Tina Royer, 41, of Clearwater, Fla., tag-teamed in a bucksaw event and planned to participate in the ax-throwing event. She signed through an interpreter that she came because she wanted to see some friends and because the event was held near where she grew up, in Martinsburg, W.Va.
Jean Lacy-Limoges, 50, a teacher at a school for the deaf in Vermont, signed through an interpreter that she and her husband brought their daughter and a friend, because her daughter likes to hang out with other CODAs -- children of deaf adults.
Scott Jacobs, 38 and also from Clearwater, displayed the scrapes on his forearms from the pole-climbing competition. Friends from a school for the deaf he attended in Maryland persuaded him to come.
"I enjoy everything," he signed through an interpreter. "There's nothing in Florida like this."
Keg throwing. Mud wrestling. Pole climbing. Flying axes.
No, not spring break.
Those are all featured activities this weekend at the Eastern Deaf Timberfest at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts in Natural Bridge. The biannual event drew about 500 adults and about 200 to 300 children from as far away as Poland and Japan, according to event organizers.
The pole-climbing and crosscut saw contests were in full swing in the Saturday morning heat as spectators milled around, took pictures and signed to one another.
Logger Ron Markel of Maryland was one of the original event organizers in 1994.
"I've always been going to professional logger events and thought, 'Why don't we have one?' " Markel signed through his son, Mark, who served as an interpreter during the event. Since then, event organizers have held Eastern Deaf Timberfests in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Haymarket, Va.
"The mud wrestling is one of the most popular events," signed Allen Markel, another event organizer, through an interpreter.
Events are held for men, women, children and teams. Most attendees camp in the park for the four-day event. Nonlogging events include a magician, storyteller and Dingo -- a version of Bingo with playing cards.
"One of the biggest reasons we had this event is to preserve the deaf culture in the community they're in," Allen Markel signed through an interpreter. "We've been noticing a trend that deaf organizations are shutting down due to lack of participation and so these events have really slowly disappeared."
Advances in technology such as videophones have made communication easier for the deaf, Allen Markel signed through an interpreter. But the feeling of togetherness among the deaf community has been affected by the technology, according to Markel.
Tim Siegel of Connecticut signed through an interpreter that he learned about the event on the Internet and came with his girlfriend. Siegel, 41, participated in the bucksaw, ax-throwing and chain saw events and just wanted to come to meet some deaf people and have a good time.
Tina Royer, 41, of Clearwater, Fla., tag-teamed in a bucksaw event and planned to participate in the ax-throwing event. She signed through an interpreter that she came because she wanted to see some friends and because the event was held near where she grew up, in Martinsburg, W.Va.
Jean Lacy-Limoges, 50, a teacher at a school for the deaf in Vermont, signed through an interpreter that she and her husband brought their daughter and a friend, because her daughter likes to hang out with other CODAs -- children of deaf adults.
Scott Jacobs, 38 and also from Clearwater, displayed the scrapes on his forearms from the pole-climbing competition. Friends from a school for the deaf he attended in Maryland persuaded him to come.
"I enjoy everything," he signed through an interpreter. "There's nothing in Florida like this."