LINCOLN — What starts as an empty parking lot at Lambkins restaurant in Lincoln transforms into a special competition, carving out time for a good cause.
“It just makes me so emotional,” Val Clark, an event organizer, shared.
The chainsaw carving competition began four years ago to support Sam's Hope's mission, which provides financial assistance to children battling cancer across Montana. So far, they have served over a dozen families.
Clark noted, “It is a huge sense of family, and that is why we love to help families and pay that forward.”
Sam Kolve passed away from cancer at the age of 15, and his legacy lives on through logs.
The competition raised over 100,000 dollars last year and has grown to 9 carvers from all across the country and Canada.
Jarrod Flowers, a carver from Arkansas, expressed, “It is almost like a family reunion. You don’t just go anywhere in the country and find something like this.”
Carvers have four days to work on their masterpiece, carving them out of giant logs from downed trees that came from last year’s windstorm. There are also separate mini carving competitions twice each day.
Another carver, and last year’s winner, Mark Colp, said, “We do this because we like to make people happy.”
The competition runs through Sunday with auctions at 7 pm Saturday and 1 pm Sunday.
For more information on Sam’s Hope Foundation and this year’s competitors, you can visit this link.
