Operating a mechanical lift provided to offer visitors a chance to feel what it is like to be on a highrise construction site, Upper Peninsula ironworker Jack Milbrath of Local 8 in Norway stands about 120 feet above the International Ironworkers Festival in Mackinaw City Saturday morning, August 9. Below, the crowd begins to swell for the annual event, at which ironworkers compete in contests using tools related to the trade, notably the World Championship Column Climb. The tall, metal columns are visible at the far end of the grounds. Operating a mechanical lift 120 feet above Mackinaw City, ironworker Jack Milbrath has a good view of the crowd below. Among those gathered are fellow tradesmen, organizers, families, and visitors, all attending the International Ironworkers Festival Saturday, August 9. The annual celebration is for ironworkers old and young, American and Canadian.

"It takes a certain personality to do this kind of work," boasts Mr. Milbrath of Norway in the Upper Peninsula, a member of Local 8. "We have that personality."

Ironworkers take part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ironworkers Walk of Fame project on North Huron Avenue in Mackinaw City Friday, August 8. The streetscape will include brick pavers inscribed with the names and projects of ironworkers. Pictured here (from right) are Elie Stewart of Local 340, who worked on the Mackinac Bridge; Dick DeMara of Local 25; Brian Diskin of Champaign, Illinois, a member of Local 380 and head judge at the Ironworkers Festival, and Mike Coleman, president of the Ironworkers Festival and member of Local 721 in Toronto. Not pictured, but participating in the groundbreaking, are Jerry Kennelly of Local 25, Prentiss M. "Moie" Brown Jr. of St. Ignace, J.C. Stilwell, and others. The groundbreaking ceremony and a separate ribbon-cutting ceremony at the site were attended by politicians, local dignitaries, union leaders, ironworkers, and the public. The camaraderie of the trade is evident on this weekend at the foot of the Mackinac Bridge, where 81 skilled ironworkers and retirees tie rods, tie knots, toss rivets, throw spud wrenches, and climb columns.

Politicians, local dignitaries, ironworkers, and union leaders arrived in Mackinaw City Friday, August 8, for the Ironworkers Walk of Fame groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Pictured here at the groundbreaking site on North Huron Avenue, are (from right) Mackinaw City Village Manager Jeff Lawson, Mackinaw City Village Council Trustees Janelle Bancroft and Lana Jaggi, State Senator Jason Allen, Gregory Hicks for the International Association of Ironworkers, Jim Hamric for Local 25 in Detroit, and Mackinaw City Planning Commission Chairman Robert Most. They started competing almost immediately after parading through town to the festival site behind Mackinaw City High School Saturday morning.

As the lift shakes gently in the wind, Mr. Milbrath explains that standing on the platform in the open differs from standing on a lift beside the familiar skeletal framework of a building, which provides ironworkers with a sense of security, even at dizzying heights.

The lift, called a zoom boom, snorkel lift, man lift, or aerial mechanical lift, was a favorite with the crowd, especially children, who eagerly donned scaled-down ironworkers harnesses and took to the sky to see both the festival and the Mackinac Bridge, which some of the attending ironworkers had helped create.

The crowd begins to form for the International Ironworkers Festival in Mackinaw City Saturday, August 9. The photograph was taken from atop a tall mechanical lift common to the trade. "I think that's why I'm here, to show them respect," said Local 25's Nathan Santino of St. Charles, who had just climbed a tall steel column beside last year's international climbing champion, Wes Campeau of Windsor, Ontario. The two placed American and Canadian flags atop the columns before the anthems of both countries were played to open the competition.

"There's a lot of history here," Mr. Santino observed. "A lot of pride."

Like many of his comrades, Mr. Santino, 38, is proficient in all major aspects of the trade, like connecting, welding, and climbing. An ironworker is supposed to be able to do everything, he said.

Ironworker Bill Ferraro of Local 580 in New York catches a rivet hurled toward him in the old-timers rivet toss competition Sunday, August 10, in Mackinaw City. Mr. Ferraro is one of several ironworkers who worked on the World Trade Center rescue and recovery operations in 2001. Mr. Ferraro and fellow Local 580 union member Dennis Milton, who also worked on the Trade Center, took first place in the competition. He worked on the C. S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor and on the rebuilding of the C blast furnace in Dearborn.

"It's a tough job," he said of his work. "Not everyone can do it. The goal is to make it through, every day."

Stepping away from the spudwrench throw, Joe Blanch of Local 401 in Philadelphia noted that the festival is a chance for ironworkers to have fun with the tools of their trade.

"These are the wrenches we use at work," he said. He uses them at projects like constructing the 46- floor Harrah's Chester Casino in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Blanch described the Ironworkers Festival in Mackinaw City as a good time, a chance to meet good guys from around the country, to become re-acquainted with familiar faces from prior festivals, and to honor ironworkers who were on the job before he joined the trade.

Ironworkers parade through Mackinaw City Saturday morning, August 9, just before the International Ironworkers Festival, which takes place behind Mackinaw City High School every year. "All ironworkers should make a trip here and pay homage to the guys that built the bridge. It's our trophy," said ironworker Al "Big Al" Contreras of Local 498 in Illinois, who drove his motorcycle 487 miles to get to the festival, with fellow ironworker Mike Zirkle of Rockford motoring along beside him.

"I've been wanting to come here forever," Mr. Contreras said.

He learned of the Ironworkers Festival through a History Channel documentary about the Mackinac Bridge. Ever since, he sought to be a part the event, and got his chance in 2008.

"I'll definitely be back, bring more Local 498 union members, and our banner," he said.

Behind him and the two metal climbing columns stood a wall of festival and union banners representing organizations from California to Toronto.

The ironworkers who come to the festival seem overwhelmed that the community holds such a festival in their honor, said Marilyn McFarland, who developed Mackinaw City's Ironworkers Walk of Fame concept, which sprung from the festival itself.

Pavers lining the Walk of Fame will be inscribed with the names and projects of ironworkers, and ground was broken for the project the day before the festival, a ceremony attended by politicians, local dignitaries, ironworkers, union leaders, and members of the public.

"This is the heritage of the area," said Dawn Edwards, executive director of the chamber of commerce, "and there is a story behind the story."

Several ironworkers at the festival helped build the World Trade Center in New York, for example, and ironworkers were also key players in rescue efforts and in clearing the site after the buildings were destroyed in 2001.

David Labotto, Bill Ferraro, and Dennis Milton were there. Mr. Ferraro and Mr. Milton, both of New York, are members of Local 580.

Ironworkers from Local 580 and Local 40 served a critical role in the response to the attack because they knew the structures and knew how to move heavy debris. The city called them in quickly after the buildings came down, Mr. Ferraro told The St. Ignace News.

For three weeks, coordinated in part by the New York State Ironworkers District Council, and donations of money and equipment by area contractors, the ironworkers went to work there, often for 16 hours a day, said Mr. Milton, who helped construct the towers from 1970 to 1973.

They were applauded by the public as they moved debris by hand, clearing the way for heavy equipment, he said.

Mr. Ferraro was working on the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse when the second hijacked plane flew overhead.

"I thought it was going to hit the Brooklyn Bridge," he said, but the plane veered off and hit the Trade Center.

Soon, there was a flood of survivors covered in debris running across the bridge toward Brooklyn, and then a contingent of ironworkers heading in the other direction, toward the attack site in Manhattan.

Mr. Ferraro was able to help save two people. He found a man trapped in an air conditioning duct two floors beneath ground level, and a woman in a tunnel.

He also saw the remains of many people who did not survive.

For weeks, he and his fellow workers removed steel and rubble, making way for small and then larger cranes. At first, they used torches to cut steel and remove debris, he said.

The 2001 rescue effort in New York was among many jobs recalled quietly, casually, by workers at the festival that highlight the serious nature of their daily work and the precise skills needed to be an ironworker. Many are already planning to return to the festival next year, to test their skills again in the same spirit of friendly competition.

2008 International Ironworker Festival Results

Knot Tying (Saturday)

1st Rob Sweeney Local 401; 2nd Eric Costa Local 397; 3rd Bill Hunt Local 401

Rodtying (Saturday)

1st Domingo Valadez Local 55; 2nd Larry Roughton Local 55; 3rd Lino Valadez Local 55

Spud Throw (Saturday)

1st Eric Costa Local 397; 2nd Robert Harmon Local 397; 3rd Greg Franks Local 8

Rivet Toss (Saturday)

1st Mike Roberts Senior and Ben Roberts Local 25; 2nd Eric Costa and Robert Harmon Local 397; 3rd Jonathon Grunas and Jason Starke Local 25

Column Climb (Saturday)

1st Wes Campeau Local 700 5.3 seconds; 2nd Eric Costa Local 397 5.37 seconds; 3rd Rob Sweeney Local 401 6.22 seconds

All-Around (Saturday)

1st Eric Costa Local 397; 2nd Rob Sweeney Local 401; 3rd David Dumas Local 340

Old Timer Rivet Toss

1st Dennis Milton and Bill Ferraro Local 580; 2nd Dallas Compeau and Brad Doubert Sr. Local 25; 3rd Craig MacIntyre and Bernie Noble Local 340

Old Timer Column Climb

1st Bradley Doubert Local 25 3.38 seconds; 2nd Dallas Compeau 3.41 Local 25 seconds; 3rd Craig MacIntyre Local 340 3.47 seconds

Old Timer All-Around 1st Dallas Compeau Local 25; 2nd Craig MacIntyre Local 340; 3rd Dennis Milton Local 580

Traveling Trophy Winners

1st Eric Costa, Robert Harmon, Richard Gallo Local 397

World Championship Column

Climb (Sunday)

1st Eric Costa Local 397 5.29 seconds; 2nd Rob Sweeney Local 401 5.53 seconds; 3rd Wes Campeau Local 700 5.61 seconds