Eddie and George Carve Their Way Through Chetwynd

Note to the Reader:  Eddie and George shamelessly

stole almost all of the following text from the

website and publications of the Chetwynd BC Visitor Centre,
which you can visit here.

On May 17, 2019, we moved from Prince George, north along Highway 97, to Chetwynd, where we plan to spend five days exploring the area.

Chetwynd is located in the foothills of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, on the Pine River just over Pine Pass in the Hart Range. It is British Columbia’s entrance to the mighty Peace River Country. Chetwynd has a population of about 3,100. When not hard at work, the people of Chetwynd enjoy an excellent recreation complex with a wave pool, team-sized hot tub, sauna, six-sheet curling rink, ice arena and library. The four seasons combined with virgin forests, rolling hills, snow-capped mountains, undulating fields and crystal clear lakes and rivers make Chetwynd a playground for the nature lover and outdoor enthusiast. We hope to share some of these pleasures during our short stay.

As soon as we set up camp at Caron Creek RV Park, about 13 km south of Chetwynd on Highway 97, we drove in to the Visitor Center to ask about things to do.  We had already heard about Chetwynd's many chainsaw sculptures, sprinkled about town in the public spaces, but we knew very little about the history of the carvings.  Our host at the Visitor Center provided us lots of information about the chainsaw carvings and Chetwynd's annual chainsaw carving competition, and we decided to take Eddie and George on an outing today to explore the carvings.

Our first stop was the town's entrance sign, which itself is a remarkable chainsaw-carved sculpture.  Eddie and George got up close and personal with it:

The chainsaw carving project began as part of Chetwynd's Rendezvous ’92 Committee, which was created to help with the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Alaska (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.  On December 31, 1990, the town commissioned its original welcome sign with bear sculptures from master carver Terry McKinnon.  With the new welcome sign (shown above), McKinnon's classic carving has taken a place of honor in the center of town, at the head of Carver's Row:

Since completion of the bear scene, businesses, residents and fundraising efforts of the committee have supported the project. In the first year, the Rendezvous ’92 Committee held 42 different fundraisers to raise the money to bring the first carvings to town. Some of these fundraisers included baking cookies, hosting dances, and events centered around a visit to town by the first woman in space.

In 2005, Chetwynd hosted the first annual Chetwynd International Chainsaw Carving Championship, hosting seven carvers from B.C. and the United States. In 2006, the number of carvers attending increased to twelve carvers from all across North America. Chetwynd is now drawing international attention, with carvers coming as far away as Wales, Lithuania, and Japan. Spectators are also traveling to Chetwynd from distances as great as the lower United States. In 2008, ECHO Chainsaw Carving Series and Championship included the Chetwynd Championship as a qualifying event for the Chainsaw Carving Championship at the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival in New Mexico, which we have attended!

Chetwynd boasts over 200 chainsaw-carved sculptures around town, most of which are outside in public spaces, but also include a number of indoor sculptures and some additional chainsaw sculptures donated to the town.  If you're visiting and are interested, the Visitor Center has a map, list and photographs of all the sculptures so you can locate and identify each one.

After each year's competition, the resulting sculptures are displayed for a year on Carvers Row before finding homes around the town.  Because there are so many sculptures around town, and we couldn't possibly show you all of them, Eddie and George decided they would focus on the 2018 sculptures now on display on Carvers Row:

The First Place winner for 2018 is a sculpture titled, "Joanne," by Jeff Samudosky of the USA, and is an impressive depiction of a woman at a piano.  Eddie and George paused long enough to listen to a tune or two:

Second Place in 2018 went to this sculpture titled, "Focus," by Chad Danczyk of the USA.  Poor Eddie got caught in the talons of that focused raptor: 

This whimsical sculpture, titled, "The Strong Combination," by Takao Nayashi of Japan, captured Third Place in 2018:

This beautifully intricate depiction of a crowded village, "Dependance," won sculptor Dan Cordell, of the U.K., the Carvers' Choice Aware in 2018 --

-- while the 2018 People's Choice award went to "Poseidon," by Ryan Cook, of British Columbia, Canada:

One of the most interesting sculptures was this one, titled, "Eagles Nest," which is articulated so that the eagle can rise up or bend down toward the chick in the nest:

Eddie and George were particularly smitten by this touching statue of "Wild and Free," by Robby Bast of Australia:

Blending elements of water, rock, plant life, and perhaps First Nations symbols, "Water is Life," by Roderick Brown of British Columbia, Canada, offered the boys plenty of nooks and crannies to pose in:

"Ledgen of Setanta," by John Hayes of Ireland, is a powerful depiction of the Irish legend about a boy, Setanta, who became the greatest Celtic warrior, Cuchulainn, when he was forced to kill the blacksmith Culann's wolfhound to save his own life (read more of the legend here).  The great Irish poet William Butler Yeats authored beloved poems about Cuchulainn that provide even richer background.

"Roots and Wings," by Jason Emmons of the USA made the boys feel as if they were about to take flight!

I don't know how Eddie and George stayed astride "Buffalo Hunt," by Randy Gauthier, of British Columbia, Canada, because that sculpture was bucking and kicking in a very lifelike way:

It was hard to find a single perspective from which to photograph "The Four Horsemen of Revelation," by Jason Stoner of the USA, because it depicts so many figures in an unique and compelling spiral-360-degree view:

The entrance to Carvers Row is graced by one of the most unique sculptures carved in the Chetwynd competitions, "Eye on the Prize," by Ryan Cook, of British Columbia, Canada, which is from the 2015 competition.  If that sculpture doesn't prepare you to see some breathtaking carving, nothing would.

Also at the entrance to Carvers Row is a small sculpture of a grizzly (?) sow and her cub, possibly in their den, and is a memorial acknowledging the members of the original Rendezvous '92 Committee who started it all -- Betty Deck, Marian Hoover, Andy Teslyk, Jack Hannam and Charlie Lesser. 

Somehow, the boys were able to squeeze into that den with their relatives.  They looked pretty cozy in there, and were glad to learn who started this wonderful Chetwynd tradition!