Logger’s Ball: A gathering of history, community
“It’s one of my favorite events of the year,” said Elijah Manwill, the Utah State University S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources senator.
The annual Logger’s Ball took place on Nov. 15 at the Logan Country Club, where a room was transformed into a forest. This year, the event was put on by the newly merged S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.
The new senator collaboration has worked out, according to Manwill.
“It’s been a lot of fun working with Senator [Brinley] Rhoades, and it’s been a lot of help having her,” Manwill said.
The QANR college is now the largest college on campus, and according to Manwill, the collaboration and support while adjusting to the changes has been beneficial.
“With the college merger, the way we structured student council is we took representatives from our old department but decided to include the new geology department and include the Plants, Soils & Climate Department,” Manwill said. “Now, we’ve got new ideas and new people coming in that are interested in Logger’s Ball, whereas traditionally, it was just like a Forestry Club thing.”
A night of live music, activities and peers, the ball dates back to the beginning years of USU. The Forestry Club plays a large role, as without the history of their club, the event would not be here today.
“Forestry Club is actually the oldest continually running club on campus. We’ve got a scrapbook with photos dating back to the 1920s, and so it’s pretty old,” said Truman Mitchell, president of the club.
The ball is structured around forestry degrees and students within the natural resource college. However, that does not mean it is only for them.
“We’re all about getting students experience out in the world. College is good, but you need some experience. We help people work with chainsaws to learn how to saw,” Mitchell said. “We do maple seed collecting to plant in Idaho. We do tree identification. We do a whole lot of stuff. We try to give students skills to go out into the workplace with.”
The ball originally served as a fundraiser for the club. Over time, the size of attendance grew, which is when it was delegated to the natural resource senator.
This year’s ball had many activities, such as cracking geodes, corn hole, painting pots and photo props. The biggest tradition, though, is the food with live, local music.
The bands this year were KIN, Strawberry Jam, Iris Isadora and Xavier and the Beehive Boys.
The student council in charge of planning this event delegated tasks. It was a “team effort,” according to Manwill.
The council integration officer Mercy Smith also felt the team effort.
“For Logger’s Ball, I feel like we all shared responsibilities for planning stuff,” Smith said.
With some side activities, the main focus is on community.
“It is usually a pretty rough spot in the semester, and everyone’s trying to get through, so getting everyone and anyone who wants to come together for music, food and fun times is the goal,” said Kennedy Price, the student advocate officer on the council.
As the semester comes to an end, this event is meant to help students get a break and a night off full of community.
“It’s just a tradition that the college of natural resources has been doing for a long time — just for a chance for people to get together and listen to good music and eat good food and just have a good time,” said Luke Dutson, president of the council. “We want all students to come here. We don’t want to be closed off.”
For Manwill and the council, the Logger’s Ball is a great night for entertainment while also showing other students who they are.
“My overall message would be to get people to come see how we operate,” Manwill said. “I would hope that everybody in the university could come see an event like the Logger’s Ball and be like, ‘Oh, this is actually pretty essential to the way our life is set up here.’”
As the tradition of the ball is continually evolving with activities and involvement, the one thing that remains constant is the intent to bring students together through good food, live music and community.