Elida Peers | Contributed
It’s a sight we won’t see again.
The drama of watching two men climb these 80-foot poles at the Sooke Flats was enough to have your heart in your mouth. But watching them come down could be even worse!
This particular photo was taken by Jan Farquhar in 1985, the year that we were working on the movie, the All Sooke Day Story, directed by filmmaker Sheila Whincup.
Within the logging show arena one can also see the birling pool, the standing poles ready for the springboard chop and the axe throwing targets.
Longtime Sooke Community Association stalwart Bob Waters was the announcer that year and his good natured banter kept the crowd entertained.
One of the most exciting events was watching world champion Ed Johnson (just a young fellow then) as he climbed a pole, rang the bell and descended again in 26.9 seconds. That was really heart stopping, and if you want to view that scene, you can do so by accessing the movie at the museum.
(Incidentally, Ed Johnson, no longer a Sooke resident, stopped by a couple of years ago and it was great to see him, but we were sorry to hear his knees were shot. No wonder!).
The first All Sooke Day was held in 1934, and soon became one of the most popular annual events on southern Vancouver Island. It started out held on a Wednesday, as the Victoria stores closed Wednesday afternoons, and Vancouver Island Coach Lines ran buses steadily out from Victoria to carry the many folk excited to watch the logging sports and feast on the salmon and beef.
The salmon was barbecued in the traditional First Nations’ style, filleted and set on racks over a pit of embers of fresh alder wood. A number of Sooke men have become expert in this barbecuing style and the salmon became world-renowned.
The beef was done in the historic Leechtown manner, with a crew preparing a pit of coals the night before, wrapping the quartered beef in gunny sacks which they tossed in the river to soak so they wouldn’t burn when they were placed in the bed of coals.
The earth was then raked over the works while the beef cooked overnight. For doing the beef in the Leechtown method, it’s always been the Rumsby family, first Frank and then his son Larry who have carried the day.
While the last of our world-renowned All Sooke Days was held in 2002, you can still glimpse its glory and its galvanizing logging sports history by viewing the All Sooke Day Story.
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Elida Peers is the historian of Sooke Region Museum.