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your homegrown newspaper June 12, 2024
Vol. 20, No. 39
Hundreds attend annual chainsaw carving event, quilt show By Summer Goddard Valley Journal
Water suppy pg. 5
Climate ride pg. 8
Summer sendoff pg. 12
RONAN — Hundreds of people gathered in Ronan last week to watch chainsaw carvers create both large and small out of raw, wooden logs. The Ronan Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the fifth annual Chainsaw Carving Rendezvous June 5-9 at the county fairgrounds in Ronan. Twelve chainsaw carvers had three and a half days to create their large masterpiece carvings for the final grand auction – a portion of which benefitted local FFA students. Animals – including birds, bears, eagles, owls, foxes and a horse were popular subjects carved out of logs for both the quick carve and large masterpiece auctions. One of the bigger wooden carvings was giant guitar with a cowboy hat on top of it that sat atop cowboy boots. The piece was carved by Bruce Thorsteinson, known as “Thor from Earth,” in tribute to
SUMMER GODDARD / VALLEY JOURNAL
A backpacking bear is auctioned Sunday during the final day of the Chainsaw Carving Rendezvous.
country music artist Toby Keith who died earlier this year from stomach cancer. The Mission Mountain Quilt Guild held their 31st annual quilt show in the neighboring Ronan High School in conjunc-
tion chainsaw carving event. By 1:30 p.m. Sunday, some 375 people had attended the show. Charlotte Sheumaker was the guild’s featured quilter. In the program handed out to show visitors, Sheumaker writes, “The w w w.va l le yj our na l.net
prize is watching someone wrapped up in one of my quilts and loving it as much as I do.” Quilts of all sizes including lap quilts, wall hangings, table toppers, baby, youth quilts and more made by 30
MMQG members were on display for public viewing. The MMQG gifts TLC (Tender Loving Care) quilts to area residents who’ve experienced home fire losses.
more photos on page 2