{"id":38902,"date":"2022-08-13T23:10:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T05:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/escalante-days-sees-good-turnout-in-dolores\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:47:09","slug":"escalante-days-sees-good-turnout-in-dolores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/escalante-days-sees-good-turnout-in-dolores\/","title":{"rendered":"Escalante Days sees good turnout in Dolores"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Debbie
Debbie Valerio won the women\u2019s chain saw competition Saturday during Escalante Days in Dolores. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Strong men and women tested their chain saw and arm-wrestling skills Saturday at Escalante Days and Nights in Dolores.<\/p>\n

A large crowd turned out at Flander\u2019s Park under sunny skies to watch and cheer on the friendly competitions. Play-by-play commentary was provided by DJ Ray McDonnell of Dolores radio station KKDC D\u2019Crow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like about 1,000 people in the park,\u201d said Dolores Chamber Director Susan Lisak, event organizer.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s chain saw competition, Debbie Valerio took first place with a time of 25.2 seconds. Carmelita Payte was second with 1:04, and Kristine Ettma was third with 2 minutes.<\/p>\n

Valerio has been running the chain saw and arm-wrestling competition for the past 37 years, and has won it more than a dozen times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked with chain saws my whole life, I\u2019m not scared of them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe trick is to let the chain saw do the work, don\u2019t try and force it too much. On the upper cut, get your center of gravity low to counter the buck.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s small saw 72 cc and under, the Ragland family dominated, with Bill Ragland taking first with a time of 16.78 seconds. Doug Ragland Sr. was second with 21.98, and Doug Ragland Jr. was third with 23.62.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to be here with my family, it\u2019s a real thrill. The key is knowing how to sharpen your saw,\u201d said Bill Ragland, age 91. He still holds the record of 8.1 seconds.<\/p>\n

\"The
The chain saw competition winner post for photos from the crowd. From left are Debbie Valerio and the Raglands, including record holder Bill Ragland, far right. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cole
Cole Veach and Jordan Johnson compete in the arm-wrestling competition. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Local
Local kids get ready to chow down in the watermelon eating contest. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Genevieve
Genevieve Sparks and Maggie Rodriguez took first and second place in the women's arm wrestling contest. Note that Sparks' dress is made out of men's ties. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"There
There were lots of events for kids at Escalante Days. Mason Ragland and Noah Hobbs took first and second in the watermelon-eating contest. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grace
Grace Shellhammer won a free bike during Escalante Days. The Dolores Rotary Club gave away 12 bikes during an event Friday that included a kid bike parade and obstacle course. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bill took the big saw honors as well, winning with a time of 14.4 seconds. Harold Ragland was second with 22.37, and Doug Ragland was a close third with 22.69.<\/p>\n

Competitor Terry Rose enjoys the camaraderie among local loggers who come out for the event that honors Dolores history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to get together. We\u2019re the last loggers left in the area. In the \u201960s and \u201970s, there were 45 logging crews around here; now there are just a handful. The reason is not enough mills. Don\u2019t know why, there is plenty of thinning that needs to be done in the forests around here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arm wrestling saw some lively competition, fueled by an enthusiastic crowd and cups of beer from the Snaggletooth Bar.<\/p>\n

Just two women competed, friends Genevieve Sparks and Maggie Rodriguez, with Sparks taking the win in two rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great. I\u2019d never done it before,\u201d Sparks said.<\/p>\n

She credits her strength to working in construction and driving a semitrailer.<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s lightweight bracket, Mark Kibel of Cortez took the win. He used to compete a lot in Silverton back in the day, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is more technique than all strength. I get the jump, wait for the other guy to breath, then go for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the heavyweight bracket, Jordan Johnson defended his title again. He has won the event the past four years. Robert Freeman was second, and Cole Veach was third.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s strategy is \u201csheer strength, go hard the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other events included a parade, watermelon-eating contest, water balloon fight, kid bike giveaway, vendors, softball tournament, 5K run and street dance with Bentley Monk.<\/p>\n

The night session of the festival took place on the Dolores River Brewery patio and included a comedy show by Andy Mathews, and two bands. YLC played folk jazz, and Super Group performed a self-applied \u201cnitro twang\u201d style.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

cheered on traditional chain saw and arm-wrestling contests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[44,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84163,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38902\/revisions\/84163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38902"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}