Just when free entry into Loggers Sports appeared to be on the chopping block, new sponsorship stretching from as far as Vancouver Island has come through to keep the event in line with its 51 years of tradition.This spring, the festival's president Bryan Couture faced difficult times. He learned that a sponsor of more than 20 years, Squamish Savings that had historically covered the costs of Saturday's novice and intermediate games would not be contributing in 2008. "Squamish Savings paid the costs for the day. They basically paid everybody's way in," said Couture. "We had to consider charging for admission."When the events are free, Couture said the weekend morphs into a sort of reunion as more than 20,000 people flock to the games with new and old experiences of Squamish.Squamish Savings pulled out of the festival to stick to a more strategic funding approach that focuses in on the environment and youth sports. "It's a tough decision," said Squamish Savings general manager Ian Cornish. "At the end of the day there is a finite amount of dollars. You just have to move them around to where you can have more impact."Although the company had been highlighted as Sponsor of the Year in the past, Couture said there was no point dwelling on the lost support."You can't give them heck," he said. "It's all new people. The town's changing too. They don't know the history of it."Couture's wears his passions for the event on his sleeve.Squamish Days Loggers Sports is considered the best in the world, he said. The five-day celebration brings together renowned athletes and the greenest competitors to partake in a long list of events including ax throwing, log rolling, tree falling and speed bucking."There's not a show like it," said Couture.With this overwhelming sense of pride for the event, it didn't take him long to find more support.While getting his cell phone battery replaced at the Cartunes, the owners soon took an interest in his story. They asked if they could become Saturday's new sponsor-a spot that normally costs about $3,000."I tried to play tough. Let them sweat for a bit," Couture said with a laugh. But by Tuesday (June 3) Cartunes was officially on board. Couture held a committee meeting the following night to break the news. The committee broke out in cheers when they heard, he said pumping his fist up in the air as he imitated the members.It's not the only sponsorship hurdle festival organizers have had to overcome. With a devastated logging industry in Squamish, he said it was hard to find local wood for the events. CRB Logging was one of the few companies with timber to spare."They've been cut way back in their quotas," he said of the logging industry. "I don't even know how they're doing it."But Alan Barr of West-Barr Contracting stepped in to find more wood suppliers. He connected Couture with a company on Vancouver Island that is now shipping the wood across the water to keep the festival in full swing."The people who are supporting us this year are unbelievable," said Couture.The Sponsor of the Year for 2009 will be Diamond Head Motors, which provide ice for the beer garden, barbeque, pancake breakfast and every other event where its needed.The festival is still $30,000 short, which Couture hopes to make up for in July and August.With Sam the Axe Man back up by the Adventure Centre, he said more people will be getting into the spirit of Loggers Sports."I tell everybody I posed for that," he said, clinching his bicep with a grin.
