Cloudcroft Lumberjack Day

The day begins with pancakes. Lumberjack Day is held at Ski Cloudcroft, on U.S. 82 just east of the village, at the ski area that calls itself the southernmost in New Mexico. From 7:30 to 9:30 in the morning an all-you-can-eat breakfast is served for a small donation. At 8 o’clock competitors register in person, bringing their own saws, axes and safety gear. The competition starts at 9. Spectators get in free. Seating is limited, so the organizers ask visitors to bring a chair and to leave dogs at home.

Axes, buck saws and a hat full of twenties

The events run one after another through the day, each with men’s and women’s divisions. The organizers give no set times for a category, because they never know how many competitors will enter it.

• Axe throwing: throwers aim at targets for points.
• Single buck: one person works a crosscut saw through timber.
• Chainsaw events: competitors race through logs.

One chainsaw category, the Work Saw, is open to almost anyone who owns a saw. Each entrant puts $20 into a hat and the winner takes the pot. The other categories pay cash to first, second and third place. Points from every event count toward an overall men’s and women’s championship. Competitors must be at least 12.

The organizers warn families that the arena is loud and that there is room to walk away from it. Around 11:30 or noon, depending on the day’s entries, the main competitors take a break for the kids’ half-time show. It is a simple contest for children of any age, sponsored by Tularosa Basin Telephone Company and PVT, and every child who enters gets a prize.

Arts, crafts and food vendors stay on the grounds all day. KHII Active Radio 88.9 and Rock 97.9 broadcast live from the site. The organizers sell T-shirts and other merchandise from their own tent for set donations. At the end of the day, an awards ceremony names the top finishers in each event and the overall champions.

The 2026 field

The 33rd Lumberjack Day was held Saturday, September 19, 2026. Forty-one competitors signed up, 11 of them women. Leslie Land took the overall women’s title with 42 points, and David Castillo took the men’s with 33.

Each overall prize pack, announced the week before, held:

• a custom antler knife from A&M Matt Lasiter
• Vortex Diamondback binoculars
• a $100 gift card to The Highland
• an RTIC 32-quart cooler and tumbler
• cash

The organizers put the total at more than $1,000, not counting winnings from individual events.

The Cloudcroft Reader filmed a father and son, Matt and Max Preslar, competing against each other in log hurdling, sawing and a choker race. The day’s time sheets were posted on October 2.

The event falls on a full weekend in the village. In 2026 the Cloudcroft Light Opera Company staged its melodrama at the pavilion on Friday and Saturday nights. The High Altitude Classic mountain bike race ran on the Sunday.

Sawing the cants

Preparation started almost a week ahead.

• September 13: volunteers were building new axe targets.
• September 14: they moved in at Ski Cloudcroft, which hosts the event and manages its vendors and parking.
• September 15: the organizers posted that Josh and Joel Sr. had been “putting in the hours sawing the cants for the chainsaw events.”

Several local people and groups contributed:

• Matt Stoudt of M.A.S. Services sponsored the event and did welding.
• Chuy at Burro Street Bakery worked on the shirts and hats.
• Dale of Lil Pinky’s Photography returned as event photographer.
• The Cloudcroft Fire Department volunteered.
• The Sacramento Mountains Historical Museum joined as a last-minute sponsor.

Lumberjack Day is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit run entirely by volunteers. Local sponsors, some of them paying in trade, keep it free to the public. When cleanup at the ski area was done, Josh and Cassie Dees wrote: “It takes a Village and our Village showed up.”

From Joel and Sharlotte to Josh and Cassie

Lumberjack Day has been held every year since 1993, in the organizers’ words “by the Dees family and/or the community.” The Discover Cloudcroft visitor guide calls it a fall tradition “since the days of the timber industry.”

In October 2022 the event announced a change of generations. Joel and Sharlotte Dees, who had given the event many years, stepped down, and Josh and Cassie Dees took over leadership. They opened a Facebook page to carry the news.

• February 2023: a redrawn logo appeared on a hoodie.
• August 2023: the event sold a limited run of custom Weston Ryder hats.
• July 2024: Mayor Craig Turner told the village council that Cloudcroft had received a $5,000 heritage grant to support the coming Lumberjack Days.
• September 14, 2024, and September 13, 2025: the next two events were held.

After the 2026 event, the Deeses said they would announce the 2027 dates at Ski Cloudcroft.