SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The creators of a logging camp-themed Loggerodeo Parade float found the humorous finishing touches for their creation — an old alcohol-brewing still, a rubber chicken and a blanket made from the hide of a horse named Ned — at the Sedro-Woolley Museum. By many accounts the state’s oldest Fourth of July celebration, Loggerodeo honors Sedro-Woolley’s logging roots with parades, music, chainsaw carving, a firefighters competition, a street dance and a carnival.

As always, this year's Loggerodeo event June 29 through July 4 also features the Professional Western Rodeo Association-sanctioned Sedro-Woolley Rodeo, put on by the Sedro-Woolley Riding Club. Organizers expect about 240 competitors.

With Loggerodeo’s 75th anniversary just a couple of years away, organizers are working to get back to the flavor of festivals long ago, with plenty of focus on family fun and logging, Loggerodeo Vice President JB. Bryson said.

“Everybody started going to microwaves and cell phones and so did Loggerodeo, without even thinking about it," he said.

This year, the traditional street dance will return after a one-year absence, Bryson said. There will also be old-fashioned games for the kids during the dance, he said.

Organizers hope to entice more participation this year by having the marching bands and floats compete for trophies and prize money. The long lines of new cars and equipment will be scaled back. There’s a three-vehicle limit per dealership this year, Bryson said.

Janicki Logging and the Sedro-Woolley Museum are reviving the Loggerodeo float tradition this year after a long hiatus, museum President Carolyn Freeman said. The last Loggerodeo float was built sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Bryson said.

This year’s float is designed to capture the authentic feel of an old-time logging camp. And though it’s meant for a chuckle, with its outhouse on the back and rubber chicken, the still is an authentic touch, Freeman said. When crews cut the pass for Highway 20 in the early 1970s, they stumbled on a few stills, she said.

History mingles with fun inside the Sedro-Woolley Museum, too. The museum will host a 15th anniversary celebration from noon to 3:30 Sunday, July 1, and will also open immediately after the July 4th Loggerodeo parade. Volunteers have spent those 15 years building an eclectic collection, weaving together relics from the town’s logging and agricultural roots.

“We’ve probably got one of every kind of chainsaw ever made,” Freeman said.

But the exhibits aren’t limited to the artifacts of old logging camps and early settlers. The museum also holds mementos of an elephant’s rampage through town, gifts of thanks given to the area’s first doctor — a woman — and an extensive collection of “privy pottery,” broken dishes excavated from old-time outhouses.

Everything in the museum was donated, or is on extended loan from other organizations, Freeman said.

The museum has always been an all-volunteer effort since organizers in the early 1990s convinced the city to grant a 25-year lease on the dilapidated Murdock Mall building.

Around 100 volunteers have worked at the museum, Freeman said. The 15th anniversary celebration will honor the work of those volunteers and the historic, zany collection they’ve accumulated through the years.

In a small glass case hanging on the wall are the 16 spent bullets recovered from the hide of Tusko the circus elephant, fired upon by Sedro-Woolley citizens in 1922. The elephant broke loose from his circus chains, headed east on Ferry Street and then north toward Dukes Hill. He traveled west to the Garden of Eden neighborhood in the northwest part of the city before he was finally surrounded and returned to the circus, according to accounts.

Eight years ago, a man discovered the bullets at a garage sale in Seattle along with a note from Woodland Park Zoo veterinarian Gus Knudson, who removed them from Tusko’s hide when the elephant died there in 1936.

In another glass case at the museum sit two Native American baskets given to Dr. Georgiana Batey in the 1880s for delivering babies. Batey was Skagit County’s first formally trained doctor and one of the first three in the state, Freeman said. Batey’s great-granddaughter, who lives in California, donated the baskets to the museum.

Over the years, museum volunteers have built new exhibits to show off their acquisitions. There’s a replica of a mine shaft to showcase cars and axes from the old Cokedale Mine that was northeast of town; a tiny newspaper office with the linotype printing machine salvaged from the Courier-Times; and a miniature cabin with an antique stove.

A full-scale outhouse is a showcase for numerous examples of “privy pottery.” Back in pioneer days, broken dishes got tossed in the outhouse, there being no regular garbage pickup.

A few years ago, Clear Lake Elementary fourth-grade teacher Mark Chatt excavated an outhouse on property first settled in the 1890s. After the pieces of dishes had been washed, his students sorted through them, glued them together and donated them to the museum.

Then there’s Ned, or at least the blanket made of him. The horse was so beloved by his owners that when he died in the early 1900s they skinned him, tanned his hide and made it into a blanket.

“Back then, nothing went to waste,” Freeman said.

• Jennifer Carter can be reached at 360-416-2147 or .

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Sedro-Woolley Museum regular hours
• Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays; 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays.

Special Loggerodeo hours
• Open immediately after the parade Wednesday, July 4.

• Sedro-Woolley Museum’s 15th anniversary open house is from noon to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, July 1.

• For more information, call 360-855-0638.


The schedule of events for the 73rd annual Loggerodeo:

Friday, June 29
• 5-10 p.m.: Carnival in Metcalf Street fields

• 6 p.m.: Kiddies Parade starts at the intersection of Warner and Metcalf streets

Saturday, June 30
• 9 a.m.-3 p.m.: Firefighters’ Muster at the Sedro-Woolley High School football field, 1235 3rd St.

• Noon: Life Flight fly-in at Sedro-Woolley High School

• 2 p.m.: Wild Women of Woolley at Sedro-Woolley Senior Center, 715 Pacific St.

• 5-10 p.m.: Carnival in Metcalf Street fields

• 6:30 p.m.: Bluegrass Jamboree at Cascade Middle School, 201 N. Township Road, adults $5, seniors $4

• 7-11 p.m.: Street Dance


Sunday, July 1
• 10 a.m.-10:30 a.m.: Church service in Hammer Heritage Square

• Noon-3:30 p.m.: Sedro-Woolley Museum 15th anniversary celebration, 725 Murdock St.

• 1:30 p.m.: Beard contest at the Sedro-Woolley Museum

• 2 p.m.: Bluegrass Festival and Gospel Show, Cascade Middle School, 201 N. Township

• 5-10 p.m.: Carnival in Metcalf Street fields

Monday, July 2
• 8 a.m.-4 p.m.: Log carving at the intersection of Murdock and State streets

• 10 a.m.-5 p.m.: Food and craft exhibits at the south end of Metcalf Street

• 11 a.m.-noon: Quick carve at the intersection of Murdock and State streets

• 5-10 p.m.: Carnival in Metcalf Street Fields

Tuesday, July 3
• 8 a.m.-4 p.m.: Log carving at the intersection of Murdock and State streets

• 10 a.m.-5 p.m.: Food and craft exhibits at the south end of Metcalf Street

• 11 a.m.-noon: Quick carve at the intersection of Murdock and State streets

• 11 a.m.-10 p.m.: Carnival in Metcalf Street fields

• 7 p.m.: Sedro-Woolley Rodeo at the rodeo grounds on Polte Road.

Wednesday, July 4
• 8 a.m.-1 p.m.: Log carving at the intersection of Murdock and State streets

• 9:30 a.m.: Sedro-Woolley Foot Race starts at the intersection of Warner and Metcalf streets

• 10 a.m.-5 p.m.: Food and craft exhibits at the south end of Metcalf Street

• 11 a.m.: Grand 4th of July Parade starts downtown at 3rd and Ferry streets

• 11 a.m.-10 p.m.: Carnival in Metcalf Street fields

• 1-2 p.m.: Quick carve at the intersection of Murdock and State streets

• 2-3 p.m.: Quick carve auction and awards ceremony

• 2 p.m.: Sedro-Woolley Rodeo at the rodeo grounds on Polte Road.

• 2 p.m.: Old Time Logging Show at the intersection of Warner and Walley Street.

• Dusk: Fireworks display on Fruitdale Road, east of Sedro-Woolley