MFA Meeting + Banquet

You are invited to attend the annual gathering and meeting of the Minnesota Forestry Association Members this fall! We have a new ‘walk and talk’ for this year’s get-together. It will be held in conjunction with the 69th annual North Star Expo. Each year, all parts of Minnesota’s logging community--vendors, truckers, foresters, lawmakers, policy makers, and of course loggers!--gather in Grand Rapids for the “Great Minnesota Logging Get-together – the Expo! The MFA Annual Business Meeting will be in the Log Building late afternoon on Friday September 15. Followed by dinner, Tree Farm Awards and speakers. Before and after the MFA annual meeting, you can take the opportunity to tour these picturesque fairgrounds, talk with equipment dealers, see harvesting and sawing equipment at work, and just plain mingle with fellow woods-people who like to talk trees, tree planting, tree harvesting, and tree care.

Expo starts at 9 AM, with MFA activities in the log building as follows:

2 PM to 3:30 PM - Having a Healthy Forest

4 PM to 5 PM - Annual Meeting

5 PM to 5:30 PM - Social

5:30 PM to 6:30 PM - Dinner

6:30 PM to 7 PM - Tree Farm Awards

7 PM - Evening Speaker

A $20 fee covers the days activities and the evening meal in the log building. An RSVP is required to the MFA phone number at (218) 879-5100 by September 7. Also, call MFA with any additional questions.

Minnesota’s Largest Logging Equipment Show

With the advent of mechanization in the logging industry, TPA held its first “Field Day” August 27, 1953, at the Tomahawk Timber Company offices at Forest Center near Lake Isabella. The event included sawing contests for participants using a four-foot crosscut saw or bow saw, chopping contests, and two-man crosscut saw demonstrations. Visitors were treated to a tour of Tomahawk’s new Swedish-type gang mill, followed by outdoor demos of safe logging practices.

In 1954, TPA moved the show to the U of M’s Cloquet Forestry Center and renamed the event “The Logging and Forest Management Show.” Equipment dealers from throughout the region had exhibits, and some 225 TPA members showed up to see the latest in machinery. The day also included a tour of the University’s experimental plantings on the site. The show remained at that site for many years.

In 1967, TPA began sponsoring a logging equipment show at the Minnesota State Fair called the “Space Age Forestry Show,” winning a blue ribbon for outstanding achievement. At the 1968 Fair, the demonstration played to nearly 9000 people at its three shows each day.

In 1974, the site was changed to the Buffalo House off I-35 south of Duluth, and in 1978 the Expo was held in Grand Rapids, establishing a practice of moving around to various cities in northern Minnesota, including Bemidji, Proctor, Duluth, and elsewhere.

Now called “The North Star Expo,” the event continues to this day, located for the past several years at the picturesque Itasca County Fairgrounds in Grand Rapids. The 69th annual Expo will be held September 15th and 16th, 2023.