Sawdust drifted through the air outside of Rig Hand Distillery in Leduc Thursday morning as carvers revved up their chainsaws for the fourth annual Western Canadian Chainsaw Carving Championship. “You can’t believe what these carvers can do with a giant log and what they’ll turn it into in 35 hours,” said distillery president Geoff Stewart. The event starts Thursday and runs until Sunday with each day featuring 10 hours of carving competition. All Carvers will compete in 90-minute carves on Saturday and Sunday. A donation of $10 for an adult admission is suggested. Children may enter the event for free. At the end of the competition on Sunday, all carvings will be available to bid on. Rig Hand has partnered with the Kiwanis Club of Leduc to put on this year’s event. All proceeds from admission and bids will go towards programming the club puts on for local youths. “These guys are carving for kids. It’s a great cause,” said Stewart. Stewart got the idea to put on the event after doing some carving with Edmonton’s award-winning carver Ryan Villiers. “The World Championship is way up north in Chattanooga, B.C., that’s a long drive for people to go up there to see the best carvers,” explained Stewart. “We thought, why don’t we do one right here? We’re only four miles from the airport.” The event, which will run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day until Sunday, features some of the world’s top chainsaw carvers including Shea Larking, Ryan Cook, Brigette Lochhead, Tyler Welfing, Andrew Reimer and Rick Shapcott. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Darcy Seaton
