For more than 150 years, rafts of timber traveled down the Upper Delaware River. In Narrowsburg, buildings along Main Street grew with an industry that shaped the community. And, for one Saturday each fall, that timber heritage is celebrated with lumberjack competitions, family activities, and a gathering that connects the region’s past with its present.

That’s Logging Days.

This year’s event brings new elements to the annual celebration, including a log-rolling tank and axe throwing organized by the Boy Scouts. There will also be lumberjack demonstrations, chainsaw carving, live music, local vendors, a baking contest, and other family activities.

But beneath the event is a much older story.

Jane Luchsinger, an event organizer, says the first timber raft traveled down the Upper Delaware River in 1764. The last rafts made the journey around the 1920s.

The rafts could be enormous — sometimes as large as football fields. And the men who guided them worked in the cold waters of the river, maneuvering the timber downstream.

The legacy of that industry can still be found around Narrowsburg. Luchsinger points to the Arlington Hotel, now home to the Delaware Valley Arts Center, which was expanded to serve people connected to the logging industry.

Logging Days is, in part, an effort to keep those connections visible.

But the festival also reflects a present-day Narrowsburg. Logging remains an industry in the region, with companies and mills still operating nearby.

And for Cecilia Coacci, another organizer, and Luchsinger, the most important part of the day may have little to do with timber at all.

It’s the people.

Luchsinger says she watches the crowd and notices people from different backgrounds coming together for the same event.

“I notice how diverse the group is that we attract — all kinds of different backgrounds of people,” she said. “And that makes me very happy that everybody can come together and enjoy such a wonderful event.”

Coacci sees that gathering as the heart of the festival.

“The more people we bring into Narrowsburg, the more community we have,” she said. “And community is the most important thing in Narrowsburg.”

Free shuttle buses will run from stops on Main Street, at the Western Sullivan Public Library, and at Pete’s Market parking lot.

More information is available at WelcomeToNarrowsburg.com.