Chain Saw Carving

Chetwynd, British Columbia                 High 64 Low 43

Today we drove to Chetwynd to watch the chainsaw carving championships held each year. We had a nice drive here and got to see some new territory.

Chetwynd is home to beautiful handcrafted chainsaw sculptures of indigenous animals and local scenes.

The chainsaw carving project began as part of the 50th anniversary of the building of the Alcan highway. The Chetwynd Rendezvous '92 committee wished to leave a lasting legacy of the community's participation in the special event to celebrate this milestone of the Alaska Highway.

There is four days of carving, but we will only be here for 2 of them. The competitors come from all over the world. Today I saw Australia and Japan represented, as well as various provinces in Canada.

A lot of the buildings have carvings in front of them as well as lining the highway. Some are very intricate. We found out that there are 146 carvings lining the streets. They are from past competitions.

We got to go see the men at work carving with chainsaws. Today was the first day and we couldn't tell what the finish carving was going to be on most. Some were smaller and were almost finished.

We also took many pictures of the existing carvings. We got so many pictures, that I can only give a small sample of the ones we liked best.

This is one we couldn't tell what the finished product would look like.

 These were just getting started.

 And of course there were vendors!

A large piece of wood.

This hockey player almost looked alive.

Sanding the finishing touches.

 Quite an assortment of saws.

Just look at the detail.

And Penny had to go along for the ride.

This wise old owl is in the city library.

This carved bench is in the city park.

Thanks for visiting.