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The Town of Frederick powered up the chainsaws for its 10th annual Chainsaws and Chuckwagons event July 20 through July 23 in Centennial Park.
The annual Chainsaw and Chuckwagon event presents …
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The Town of Frederick powered up the chainsaws for its 10th annual Chainsaws and Chuckwagons event July 20 through July 23 in Centennial Park.
The annual Chainsaw and Chuckwagon event presents chainsaw carvers from seven states. Once the sawdust fell, it revealed unique pieces of art carved out of large logs. The Town of Fredrick officials voted Saturday for the unique wood sculpture. The winner may land a spot as a fixture in the Town of Frederick's public art displays.
Visitors went from tent to tent to bid on one kind medium size carving that was actioned off and watched a quick carve contest. In addition to browsing local vendors with homemade goods and jewelry, there was a beer garden and a variety of chuck wagons with food.
This year the event featured the Axe Women Logger of Maine, an all-female team of champion Lumberjills, experts in chopping, sawyers, log rollers and ax throwers.
"We been competing for over 20 years and started the axe women in 2011. Thirty ladies compete, so depending on the venue, we use three to five Lumberjills for each show," said Alissa Weatherbee, Axe Women of Maine timber sports owners. "All the ladies are amazing; we have world champions, record holders, and collegiate champions. Some have been doing it for four years in college, and some have done it for 20 years. We train when performing and the ladies competed against each other."
The Lumberjills will be performing in several events in Colorado for a month and then traveling state to state, and performing until November.
Founder Weatherbee, Hanna Robarge and Andrea Robarge, mother-in-law to Hanna, performed a shock-and-awe performance for the families, friends, and kids.
Weatherbee holds titles in several Ironjill chopping, sawing, and logrolling in competitions. She competed in the New York World Open Lumberjill contest numerous times taking home the Peavy Log Rolling Axe Throwing title. She is the first woman to logroll the Skunk in Iowa in 2022, the Everglades in Chokoloskee Bay.
Hanna Robarge has been log rolling since she was two years old, a professional log roller and chainsaw carver. She, too, holds the Ironjill title competing in Lumberjack competitions each year in Wisconsin. Also a world champion underhand chopper since 2016, a world champion single buck sawyer in 2017, she competed in the first STIHL Timbersports U.S. Women's Division Championships.
Andrea Robarge is quite the Lumberjill, too, traveling the world and competing in logging sports for more than 30 years, including traveling to Australia six times as a chopping and sawing team member. In addition, she holds the world record in the Jack-and-Jill crosscut sawing with her husband. She also competed in the first-ever STIHL Timbersports U.S. Women's Division Championships in 2019.
Molly Wise is from Hackensack, Minnesota, and has been chainsaw carving since 2008, traveling around the world and entering chainsaw carving competitions. Her motivation for her art is from nature. She has joined the chainsaw carving contest four times in Frederick. "I'm an art teacher in northern Minnesota, where a lot of woodworkers work. A woodworker offered to teach me and I loved it," Wise said.
Chris Foltz from South Bend, Oregon, is also world-class wood and ice sculptor and a culinary artist. He holds a culinary degree and has worked in kitchens all over the world.
The first wood carving competition he entered was the Oregon Divisional Chainsaw Sculpting Championship in Reedsport, Oregon, earning the title "rookie of the year."
"I have been doing this for about 20 years and its my third year in Frederick. The first year I craved an octopus, the second year I carved an elephant head and this year I'm doing a Giraffe," Foltz said.
Justin Driver from Farming, Kentucky, finds inspiration in nature, and it was the motivation to pick up a chainsaw and create sculptures.
"I'm carving a Sasquatch on a bench so anyone can sit with him," Driver said.
Ryan Anderson from Salem, Oregon, is a performing artist with Sculptures in Motion in Reedsport, Oregon. To pay for Marine Biology school, he learned the craft of creating sculptures with a chainsaw.
Nate Hall from Lincoln, Nebraska, is a multimedia designer that has worked in the advertising industry as a creative director, art director, animator, producer, photographer, and chainsaw artist that loves working with wood.
Joe Srholez from Gypsum, Colorado, went from building log homes to being a full-time professional carver for about five years.
Joe Wenal from Orland, Maine, has been a carving artist for 12 years and has competed in the Chainsaws & Chuckwagons three times.
Philip "Blacka" Kajemusukwas was born in East Africa and migrated to America in 2006. He has been creating sculptures since he was a little boy.
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