LINCOLN — In the town of Lincoln, Montana, incredible talent is on display all weekend for the second annual Chainsaw Carving Competition, where all the money goes to help a great cause.
“The structure is, we bring in big logs–seven feet by 24 to 27 inches–and that's their main masterpiece,” explained the competition co-organizer Val Clark. “So they'll carve for four days on their main masterpiece and that'll be auctioned off on Sunday afternoon at one.”
Between carving their main pieces, the artists will have two 90-minute sessions of Quick Carving, which will also go to auction. The money raised will go toward the Sam’s Hope Foundation.
Marge and Glen Kolve lost their son Sam to Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma Cancer in 2011. Now, the Kolves do what they can to raise money to help support families struggling with child illness and cancer.
“I'm sure Sam would have been honored to have been a part of it,” said Marge Kolve. “Every penny we make goes to a family.”
The town of Lincoln is small. It’s only half a mile long, and it comes together to make this fundraiser possible.
“The restaurants all cover the meals for the carvers while they're here. The hotel gives rooms,” Clark said. “I mean, the whole community, when you think of Lincoln, you just think community and a lot of fun.”
In its first year the Chainsaw Carving Competition raised about $40,000. This year, they’re trying to beat that, and the eight carvers are excited to sell their work to a great cause.
“To be able to change other people's lives for the better by doing it is… yeah, it doesn't really get better than that,” said Hayden Wright, professional chainsaw artist who won the Carving Competition last year.
Out of logs come beautiful displays of artwork, showing a passion and dedication to the art of chainsaw sculpting.
“It is an incredible high,” said Anthony Robinson, another professional chainsaw artist. “It’s like a really great natural high to be able to chase after a vision and be able to sculpt it and bring that vision into light within two or three hours, you know, if it’s something small. If it’s something big, two or three days.”
Sam’s Hope Foundation is a Montana-based foundation in Lewis & Clark County; to learn more, click here to visit the website.
