Ilsa Minor | Daily Press An operator stacks logs as part of The Barko Loader Championship at the Great Lakes Logging and Heavy Equipment Expo at the U.P. State Fairgrounds in Escanaba Friday. The Barko Loader Championship and the Komatsu America Corp./Roland Machinery Forwarder Operator Championship will continue today during the final day of the 75th annual expo.

ESCANABA — After missing a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Lakes Logging and Heavy Equipment Expo is back in Escanaba this week to celebrate a belated 75th anniversary.

“We had to be here for our 75th just because we’ve been to Escanaba more times than anywhere else,” said Laurie Schienebeck, interim event coordinator for the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, which puts on the annual show that typically alternates between Escanaba and sites in Wisconsin.

The Expo kicked off Thursday and continues through today at the U.P. State Fairgrounds. Vendors and exhibitors from across the region have been on-hand throughout the event to display products and services, as well as highlight many of the programs and organizations that impact both loggers and haulers.

“I’ve noticed a lot of people have bags full of stuff, and that’s good too because it means they’re stopping and talking to people,” said Haley Johnson, of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, who noted her own booth had been so busy she only had one promotional pen left as of noon and the booth’s candy supply was dwindling.

While swag was certainly a bonus for guests of the event, getting information out to those in the logging and heavy equipment industries was a top priority for exhibitors.

“We enjoy doing this, the WMCA promotes road safety and that’s what people are are interested in when they come up to us,” said Johnson, who was also at the expo informing visitors about the Truckers Against Trafficking program, which aims to help truck drivers recognize human trafficking.

For many, this week’s event was their first Expo and first time in Escanaba.

“I think it’s a good experience,” said Derek Fleischman, who works in crane parts for I-State Truck Center of Marshfield, Wisconsin. While I-State has been a repeat exhibitor of the Expo, Fleischman was new to the event.

There was — and still is — far more to the Expo that just the exhibitors. The event kicked off Thursday with a kickoff event in the Miracle of Life Building on the fairgrounds, which featured live music, complimentary drinks, and a Croatian chicken dinner and axe-themed cake and cupcakes provided by Elmer’s County Market.

“There’s no logger that didn’t eat enough,” said Schienebeck, who noted each of the more than 600 people who attended were served half-a-chicken.

The kickoff event was topped off with a fireworks display celebrating the 75th show that was provided by the Delta County Chamber of Commerce.

The event also featured a number of skills competitions, ranging from the ladies bowling pin toss — an homage to the frying pan toss games that occurred at many of the lumber camps of yesteryear — and the traditional Wisconsin versus Michigan tug-o-war, to heavy equipment skills challenges. Equipment operators were able to test their mettle in the Barko Loader Championship, the Komatsu America Corp./Roland Machinery Forwarder Operation Challenge, and even an excavator challenge put on by Escanaba’s Midway Rentals. The forwarder and loader challenges continue today until noon.

The Expo opens today at 8 a.m. and closes at 1 p.m. Next year’s event will take place Sept. 8-10 at the newly-opened Resh Expo center in Green Bay.