Three weeks ago, Alex Storm was chopping wood against some of the best competition around the globe at the Lumberjack World Championships in Wisconsin.

On Tuesday night, the Lehighton native got to show off his talents a little closer to home during the Carbon County Fair Lumberjack Competition.

Many of the nation’s top athletes descended on the fairgrounds main arena for a head-to-head battle in a variety of disciplines including the standing block and underhand chops, hot saw, ax throwing, crosscut, stock saw and more.

“This is a lot of fun for me,” Storm said Tuesday in between events. “I really enjoy getting to show what I do to friends and family who can’t necessarily travel across the country to watch me chop. There’s a lot of support from the local community and that’s really why we’re able to do this here.”

Storm got his start in lumberjack events while attending Penn State Mont Alto. While studying forestry there, he gained his first exposure to woodsman events and never looked back.

“They have a club team and I tried it out and loved it,” Storm said. “I loved it so much, I’m actually back there coaching now and lecturing in the forestry program. It’s really exciting to share my passion for the sport with people who are now following in my footsteps.”

While Storm grew up in Lehighton and gets back home from time to time, many other competitors come from farther away. That includes Storm’s partner in the crosscut event, David Moses, who lives 30 minutes east of Seattle. Arden Cogar Jr., who described most of Tuesday’s events to the crowd, is a defense attorney from West Virginia.

“A lot of people don’t realize we have day jobs,” Cogar said. “Alex, the hometown boy, teaches at Penn State. Grant Foreman is a research engineer with Honda. He got his start watching YouTube videos. We all love it and that’s why we’re out here doing this.”

While Storm got his start in college 10 years ago, he didn’t turn professional until 5 years later. Most of that time, he spent getting top of the line equipment to compete with the best.

“It took me about 3 or 4 years to get all the equipment I needed, because if you aren’t using the best, you won’t have a chance in these events,” Storm said. “To get the best equipment though, that isn’t cheap. So it takes a while to get in a position where you can stay competitive at a high level.”

Many of the competitors at the fair are fresh off the world championships and the STIHL U.S. Championships, also held in Wisconsin.

“I do about 10-15 events each year around the country,” Storm said. “This is a little bit of a light year for me. I look forward to the fair though. This is one of the few times of year I get to spend at home with friends and family.”

One of the most recognizable events Tuesday was the ax-throwing contest. Cogar said while ax throwing has risen in popularity due to bars around the country starting to offer the activity, there are a few key differences when you hit the competition level.

“Our competition ax has to have at least a 24-inch handle and no more than a 6-inch cutting face,” he said. “The axes in a bar will have a 15-inch handle and a single bit, where ours have a double bit.”

The competitors stood 20-feet away from their target Tuesday and aimed to hit a bull’s-eye with just one revolution of the ax.

After several heats in each discipline, the fair planned to crown a champion Tuesday night in a single-elimination style tournament.