Bark Peeler Event Scores Again!

Dennis Dube from McKean County was all smiles on his way to victory in the Bark Peelers' Convention Fiddlers' Contest. The frog-jumping contest was also a popular event.

Despite $4-a-gallon gasoline and a host of competing events, the 34th annual Bark Peelers' Convention was a winner.

Saturday's crowd was close to on par with prior years. Turnout Sunday was down some, but respectable.

Those who did attend this Independence Day weekend tradition at the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum were treated to exciting competition, entertainment and exhibits connected in one way or other to timber harvesting and local history.

Bark Peelers' Convention was established in consultation with local historians to re-create the summertime celebrations lumber camp workers held to mark another successful season in the woods.

One highlight this year, as always, was the birling competition in the museum's lumber mill pond.

Contestants took their position on opposite ends of a floating log and tested their endurance in trying to dislodge their opponents.

Many of Sunday's competitors have achieved near-celebrity status for their past successes.

In the end, Jen Tillman from Hanover took her third birling championship, topping Coudersport's Andy Bear in the finals. Third place went to Tillman's sister, Nikki Rohrbaugh. Their father, Larry Rohrbaugh, was fourth.

Jarrett Wilson of Port Allegany was declared greased pole contest champion. He battered his competitors with a soft pillow, forcing them off a shortening coated log and into a sawdust pit to take top honors.

Winner of the fiddler contest was Dennis Dube of Smethport. He took a cash prize and won tickets for the Dam Show, July 18-19.

Many of the attendees took time to tour the Lumber Museum itself, which has qualified for a multi-million state grant for expansion and improvements.