POLLOCK PINES, Calif. — The unmistakable sound of chainsaws, axes striking timber and cheering spectators once again echoed through Pollock Pines as Logging Days celebrated the community’s historic connection to California’s timber industry.
For residents of El Dorado County, logging is more than a chapter in local history. It helped build many of the mountain communities that still line the Highway 50 corridor today. Long before recreation became a major economic driver, sawmills and timber operations supplied lumber for Gold Rush mining, railroad construction and the rapid growth of Northern California.
Logging Days honors that legacy through a modern community festival featuring professional timbersports competitions, historical exhibits, live entertainment, food vendors and educational displays highlighting forestry’s role in the Sierra Nevada. The event is centered at the Pollock Pines-Camino Community Center on Sanders Drive, where families can watch athletes compete in traditional logging disciplines including stock saw cutting, hot saw demonstrations, axe throwing, log bucking, pole climbing and choker setting.
The celebration itself has a story.
After disappearing for roughly three decades, Pollock Pines Logging Days was revived in 2024 through a partnership between the Pollock Pines-Camino Community Center Association and Motherlode Timbersports. Organizers viewed the return as an opportunity to reconnect the community with a defining part of its identity while creating a new annual attraction for residents and visitors alike. The festival has continued each summer since its revival.
“Honoring our History,” organizers state on the event’s official website, describing Logging Days as a celebration of Pollock Pines’ deep-rooted connection to the timber industry that helped shape both the community and much of El Dorado County.
That history stretches back to the mid-1800s, when lumber from the Sierra Nevada was in high demand to support nearby Gold Rush communities. Steam-powered sawmills operated throughout the region, producing timber for mine supports, bridges, homes and commercial buildings. Pollock Pines eventually became one of the communities most closely associated with the county’s forest products industry, thanks to its proximity to vast stands of mixed conifer forest and transportation routes leading west toward Placerville and Sacramento.
Today, while commercial logging no longer dominates the local economy, forestry remains an important part of forest health and wildfire mitigation throughout El Dorado County. Events such as Logging Days also serve an educational purpose by demonstrating traditional skills and highlighting the evolution of modern forestry practices.
For local businesses, the festival represents more than nostalgia.
Visitors traveling along U.S. Highway 50 often spend the weekend dining at local restaurants, shopping in Pollock Pines and exploring nearby recreation destinations such as Sly Park Recreation Area and the Eldorado National Forest. Community leaders have increasingly viewed heritage events as a way to support tourism while strengthening local identity.
As Pollock Pines continues recovering and rebuilding in the years following the Caldor Fire, celebrations emphasizing resilience and community history have taken on added significance. Logging Days offers residents an opportunity to celebrate not only the area’s past, but also its enduring connection to the surrounding forests that continue to define life in the Sierra Nevada.
Organizers intend for the event to remain an annual tradition, preserving the skills, stories and spirit of El Dorado County’s timber heritage for future generations.
Sources: Motherlode Timbersports; Pollock Pines-Camino Community Center Association.
For additional information, see Motherlode Timbersports’ Pollock Pines Logging Days page
