A small town deep in the woods of Pennsylvania is being taken over by 200 chainsaw-wielding fanatics.
That sounds like a horror movie, but it’s an accurate description of what’s happening right now in Ridgway, on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest, about a 2½-hour drive northeast of Pittsburgh.
Through next weekend, for the 17th year, this seat of Elk County hosts the Ridgway Chainsaw Carvers Rendezvous, the largest gathering of chainsaw artists in the world. They’re coming from as far away as Australia and several other countries — Canada, the Czech Republic, Egypt (if a visa comes through), Germany, Honduras, Paraguay, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.
All this week, they’ll be revving their chainsaws along the town’s Main and other streets, transforming several tri-axle truckloads of local white pine into statues of every imaginable animal and more.
Especially as next weekend nears, the town’s population of just more than 3,000 will swell up to 10 times that much, as chainsaw art aficionados and spectators from all over arrive to watch the sawdust fly. Starting at noon next Saturday,March 12, they’ll bid on the artists’ creations in a daylong auction. Artworks can be had for much less than they are worth for those willing to brave the weather, as the auction is held outdoors, too.
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“Bring an umbrella. Or a fur coat,” says Liz Boni, who organizes the event with her family. Her husband, Rick, and his twin brother, Randy, were local chainsaw carvers who innocently invited a few others over for backyard gatherings in the dark days of winter starting in the mid-1990s. They had so much fun that they held the first official rendezvous in 1999, which was attended by 35 chainsaw artists.
“We thought that was a lot of carvers,” she recalls.
The gathering, held at a park outside of town, “was quite magical” in terms of artistic inspiration. Afterward, they auctioned off the pieces they created, a tradition that continues today — and pays for the raw materials and other festival expenses.
Since 2002, the fest has honored carvers who have made big contributions to the art form on the festival T-shirt. This year’s are Andres and Steffie Martin from Germany.
This is the first time the fest has been held in March, in an attempt to get slightly warmer weather, but the elements are part of the rugged lumberjack spirit of the event. Over the years, the artists’ tools have gotten better and so has their art, which Ms. Boni says has matured from a primitive folk art to contemporary fine art. (The festival won a Governor’s Award for the Arts in 2009.) Her family sells chainsaw art — including that of her daughter, Zoe Dussia — and other kinds at its Appalachian Arts Studio in town.
The visiting chainsaw artists bring finished artworks to sell starting this weekend. Then they spend this week working on pieces for next Saturday’s auctions, as well as attending and presenting seminars held mostly at the local American Legion hall (open to the public and archived as YouTube videos).
Other community groups get in on the action by holding dinners and other events. There’s even a pop-up of other Pennsylvania artists exhibiting their wares. But the biggest fun for families is watching the loud performance art that is chainsaw carving transform a log into a barn owl in flight, or Batman, or a family of foxes, or a totem pole of Minion characters, or ...
“You see everything you can think of,” Ms. Boni says. “It’s quite beautiful.”
You’ll see more than your share of carved bears, notes Brian Sprague, a carver who also runs Sprague Farm & Brew Works in Venango, Crawford County. He is proud that he’s been to every Rendezvous since the beginning.
“It has a unique atmosphere that is a combination of carnival, competition, convention and performance art all at once.”
And it has quite an impact on the town’s economy, “especially coming out of the winter months,” notes Main Street manager Michelle Bogacki. “It does cause a brief disruption to the daily routine for county courthouse and employees, but I personally think they enjoy the ‘buzz’ right outside their windows.”
Ms. Boni says that most lodgings in Ridgway probably already are booked, but visitors who want to spend the night should be able to find a room in St. Marys or another nearby town.
For information on lodging options and more, visit chainsawrendezvous.org.
Bob Batz Jr.: bbatz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1930 and on Twitter @bobbatzjr.
First Published: March 5, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
