Scott Swanson
Pat Flanagan was the star of the show for most of the day Saturday as the Rotary Club introduced what organizers hope will be a new Sportsman’s Holiday event: chainsaw carving.
Flanagan, of Lebanon, carved an almost-lifesized relief sculpture of an eagle in flight as a steady stream of interested spectators watched him for nearly five hours.
He was one of five sculptors who carved logs into various Northwest wildlife figures during stints of several hours on Saturday in the parking lot behind the Rio Theater.
The others were Ryan Anderson of Reedsport, David Hillesland of Lyons, Nanette Smith of Mill City and apprentice carver Phil Uhnattejariji, who came with Hillesland.
Anderson sculpted an Indian in an eagle headdress, Hillesland did a bear, as did Smith, and Uhnattejariji did a salmon.
“I think it was a complete success,” said outgoing Rotary President Dave Glick, who was one of the primary organizers of the event. “It’s something we definitely want to do again next year. The city literally turned out.”
He said Mayor Jim Gourley stopped by and expressed interest in marshaling city support for the event.
One of the interested spectators was longtime local carver Milton Dodge, who worked around Sweet Home for close to two decades, carving the two statues of loggers that stood at Shea Point from 1979 to 2007.
“They did all right. They did a good job,” said Dodge, who rolled up on his motorized scooter several times throughout the day to monitor the carvers’ progress and chat with them, showing them photos of his own creations.
Flanagan said he has been carving for 26 years after trying it during a period of unemployment while living in Yachats – “You are unemployed about every three months on the coast,” he said.
He said he chose to do the eagle “because it’s something fast, that people could watch.”
In chainsaw carving competitions, such as Reedsport’s, which bills itself as the largest in the world and draws some 6,000 paying spectators each year, carvers often have three or four days to work on a project, so the finished work can be much larger and more refined than the pieces done Saturday, the carvers said.
Anderson, who competes “all over the world” and Hillesland said they liked the non-competitive format.
“It encourages a team effort,” Hillesland said.
Flanagan said he likes the idea of holding a regular event like Saturday’s in Sweet Home.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for several years,” he said. “You guys have enthusiasm. There are so many things (in chainsaw carving) that are in character for this town.”