With the sweet smell of funnel cake and deep-fried everything in the air, three guys in flannel gave Wilmington a mighty performance this weekend.

Lee LeCaptain, owner of The Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show company, and world champion log roller, started doing log rolling shows when he was 11.  Now he has about 30 employees touring the world to perform some of the wildest events from ax throwing to speed climbing.

“My claim to fame is that I’m the most famous person you’ll never meet,” said LeCaptain. Over the past 33 years, his show has reached over 1 billion people worldwide through television and performances on five continents-Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and, of course, North America.

Donna Worrell, president of Riverfest, was looking to bring something different to Wilmington for the 2012 festival.

“I came across their information one day and was like ah! and couldn’t think of a time that Azalea Festival or Riverfest had done something like that,” said Worrell.

Worrell is glad that the show was a hit for Wilmington.

“When I went, it was hard to find a spot,” said Worrell.

For Wilmington’s annual fall festival, LeCaptain sent his son, Lyle LeCaptain, first-time performer with the company Jon Preston and good friend Jesse Green.

Here’s the crazy thing-the three men have never worked together before but you’d never know it. They make the performance-even falling off of logs-look so cool. Together, they have lumberjack chemistry.

Most of The Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show performers are hand-picked. As easy as these guys make it look, LeCaptain assured me that all his employees are highly skilled.

“My son’s been ax throwing since he was two years old,” said Lee LeCaptain.

Lyle LeCaptain, 23, likes to work with the family company because he gets to travel. His specialty lumberjack event is the boom run, which is like log-rolling on steroids. Lumberjacking is not his career plan, but it gives him a chance to school-scout for a graduate degree program in biotechnology.

Quite the sarcastic jokester, Lyle LeCaptain tries to make shows as fun as possible. 

“I want you to see what we do for the first time in the best way,” said Lyle LeCaptain. “I just want to laugh.”

Another brainy lumberjack, Jon Preston, 27, is doing some shows before he starts a long-term career with an environmental studies and forestry degree. Lumberjacking is a hobby Preston fell in love with when he joined his university’s forestry team.

Preston won 2nd place in the 2010 national collegiate STIHL TIMBERSPORTS competition. He has a knack for the underhand chop, one of the most dangerous events, which viewers saw him perform this weekend. The underhand chop simulates cutting a tree down, as competitors stand and balance, feet apart, on a 12 to 14 inch log.

“I always get nervous because I just love it so much,” said Preston. “It’s just exciting to compete and put on a show.”

Preston’s parents are very supportive of his unique, sometimes risky hobby.

“He’s been in timber sports for his whole college career,” said his father, John Preston. “The wife and I have been following.”

Jon Preston believes that the lumberjack show is important because it’s passing the Paul Bunyan legend and its principles on to the next generation.

“It’s all about taking the traditional forestry equipment and bringing it to the 21st century,” said Preston.

Adam Bates, who was at the show and works in the timber business in Pinehurst, agrees.

“This is a piece of American history, right here,” said Bates. “Bunyan’s a legend. He teaches our children about our history-the grit, the work ethic.”

Bates came all the way from Pinehurst just to see the show at Riverfest.

The show is definitely a way for children to learn while having fun. Jesse Green, a professional chainsaw carver and usually the guy with the microphone, knows how to engage the crowd with his constant “WOOO”-ing and corny jokes.

Often, the crowd, including myself, was in side-splitting hysterics. Green has dubbed his co-stars, Lyle “Scruffy-Beard” LeCaptain and Jon “Perfection” Preston. The audience liked the names more than LeCaptain and Preston do.

“The purpose is to entertain myself, and if I can score a smile with you too, that’s always a plus,” said Green.

Green, who majored in 3D sculpture studies, fell into his entertainment work with the lumberjack show.

“Lee liked my personality and just handed me the mic one day,” said Green.

He’s been with the company for five years.

Along with working for The Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, Green has his own sculpting business, and will soon have his own program on the National Geographic channel called “American Chainsaw.”

Green calls himself a workaholic, but through the shows, he has been to his dream destinations. “It gives me a chance to have a working vacation,” said Green.

Of all the places he’s been, Green thinks this Wilmington event may be the best show he’s ever done.  

“Usually the fair grounds are just like out there in the dust,” said Green. “Here, you got the river, beach, the hotel’s right there. This might be my number one show.”

Anne Turner, 12, from St. Mark’s school  in Wilmington agrees with Green.

“Well, I can tell you that I saw a lumberjack show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and this was way better,” she said with big eyes and a smile, holding the autographed slice of wood she won during the rabbit-carving act.

At the end of each performance, children surrounded the three lumberjacks, begging for the autographs on leftover pieces of wood from the show. The performers may not have been as gigantic as Paul Bunyan, but they sure are making a hefty impact on our country’s, and even world’s, youth.

“We’re not sure if two years [with The Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show] is the right thing to do yet, but it’s definitely a huge hit,” said Worrell.

There’s no doubt that the Port City’s famous October festival brought something truly unique to town for 2012.