Timber Lounge Is Bringing Double Bit Axe Throwing To Moncton This Fall
MONCTON – Halifax axe throwing facility Timber Lounge Halifaxe is opening its second location at 19 Orange Lane in Moncton.
Darren Hudson co-owns the business with Marc Chisholm. He said the 5,000-square-foot facility in Moncton is under construction and is set to open October 1.
“We all know that New Brunswick is a huge lumber province. So we really think it’s a great fit, but also Moncton’s a bustling business town right now,” Hudson said. “We’re really, really positive about the outlook for Moncton and expanding our offerings.”
Hudson said he’s “excited” to have a Moncton location and is hoping to tap into the many business headquarters and activities in the city.
“[Moncton has] a business scene that’s really healthy and very attractive right now. Companies are looking for something to do with their employees, and we are a perfect team building and bonding activity. It gets people talking, socializing and creating a lot of experiences.”
Hudson, a world champion logroller who has competed in lumberjack sports globally since 1995, opened Timber Lounge in Halifax in 2016 with Chisholm. The business only uses traditional double bit axes, which is balanced with two blades on both sides.
“The Timber Lounge is kind of a platform to enable people to experience what I love so much, what we do, and we’re sharing it with the world,” Hudson said.
He’s hoping Timber Lounge’s locations in Halifax and Moncton will attract visitors from outside the Maritimes. At the Moncton facility, Hudson plans to hold competitions, charity events, and league parties, among others.
The facility in Moncton will have three lanes with six targets for axe-throwing. Hudson and Chisholm will start with 12 to 15 employees to serve customers.
Like in Halifax, Timber Lounge in Moncton will serve beer from local craft breweries.
“We’re so excited to make new partnerships in the craft beer industry – there are so many amazing craft breweries in New Brunswick and so many of them, like Big Axe Brewery, like Picaroons, are tied to the lumber industry traditions,” Hudson said. “But we’re going to be bringing one beer from Nova Scotia, it’s brewed especially for us. It’s the Wild Axe Pilsner, made by Boxing Rock [Brewing Co].”
Timber Lounge is the second axe-throwing facility that announced a plan to open in Moncton. In March, HaliMac Axe Throwing’s owners said they plan to open in Moncton “soon.”
But that’s now delayed due to “logistics issues that were unexpected,” according to the company’s reply to a customer’s comment on its Instagram page.
“We are delayed for now – but 2019 is certainly an option. We love the city and hope to bring HaliMac there soon!” co-owner Paul McInnis confirmed in an e-mail to Huddle.
Hudson said the competitors will go head to head in Halifax instead, as HaliMac is set to open a downtown Halifax location in the fall.
“So they’re going to go head to head with us in Halifax, that’s fine, that’s all ‘cooperatition’ – cooperating to compete and make each other stronger,” Hudson said.
But competition is not what axe-throwing is about, Hudson said.
“It’s really about a social experience,” he said. “The thing I love the most about doing Timber Lounge is when people come in and say, ‘I really don’t know, am I going to like axe throwing?’ And then at the end of it, they say ‘we have the best time ever.’ That’s the rewarding part for me.”