FORKS — Hickory Shirt-Heritage Days 2015 begins today with the theme “Echoes of Axes,” celebrating the history and heritage of timber communities on the West End.
Residents are urged to wear their hickory shirts all week or clothing items made from the tough blue-gray and white striped cloth that became the de facto uniform of early loggers.
The celebration will begin at 7:30 a.m. today at the Rainforest Arts Center, 35 N. Forks Ave., where the Pioneer Logger Award will be presented to the 2015 recipient, Jack Merrick, 87.
The morning ceremony and meeting will include the showing of a short film, “Sheldon Remains.”
It was filmed in Forks. Directed by Corbin Frost, it tells of the coming-of-age of an injured logger.
The Forks Timber Museum will be open for free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The museum, located at 1421 S. Forks Ave., features displays of images and artifacts from early homesteading, farming and logging in the Pacific Northwest.
The Old Timers Roundtable, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at the Rainforest Arts Center, will include a book signing and slide presentations.
Jack Zaccardo will show a slide presentation of historic photographs of the Forks area.
Larry Burtness will present a comedic slideshow, “A Mechanic’s View of Logging by Ken Sadilek.”
Several local authors will attend with local history books they have published.
Thursday
Movie night at the Rainforest Arts Center will continue the logging theme with the short documentary “Cuts” about the hard work and danger of employment at a 1970s-era mill located near Lake Pleasant.
The feature film will be “Sometimes a Great Notion,” released in 1970, which was directed and starred the late Paul Newman.
The film follows the story of a family of Oregon loggers struggling to keep a family business alive in changing times.
The doors will open at 6 p.m., and the first of two films will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Entry is free. Concessions, including pizza and soda, are available by donation by the Forks Chamber of Commerce.
Additional events will continue through Sunday.
