The founders of Orofino Celebrations, Inc. (OCI) decided to have a three-day celebration that included parades, concessions, games, a lumberjack show to promote Orofino and Clearwater County. The Lumberjack Show was started to further the timber industry. Mel Snook engineered the first show. In the beginning, money was donated by businessmen, firms and logging men.

Activities that first year, 1947, included a kids parade, fiddler’s contest, model airplane contest, a knot hole derby (a race for boys driving cars they built themselves from wood and scraps) and of course the big parade.

Harriet (Walrath) Reece served as a princess during the first Lumberjack Days. She said they did not have a contest, fancy gowns or crowns as OCI Royalty does today. They wore jeans and logger shirts. Each had been nominated by an organization in the county. During their ball in August that year, a hat was passed around and the queen was the girl that pulled out the paper that said queen. That year it was Carolyn (Tull) Cuddy. The rest of the girls were princesses.

Before the event, they traveled in a caravan through other towns in the region to advertise Lumberjack Days and sell raffle tickets. During the fair there was a helicopter in the park taking people for rides. She said the royalty “twisted” Buzz Oud’s arm to buy them tickets for a ride.

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