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Overcast. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 62F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
Cloudy with occasional light rain...mainly in the evening. Low near 50F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
BEST BEARD — Chris Dembowske (center) poses with daughter Emersyn Dembowske (right), and family friend Lily Dejon (left). He won the “Best Beard” contest at this year’s Paul Bunyan Days
STARVING CARVIST — Sam Dougherty carves out his signature caricature bear from a white pine log during the annual Paul Bunyan Days held over the weekend at Furtaw Field.
KNURLED CYLINDER — Mike Swaggert’s custom tool makes wood sculpting easier as it can carve out detail easier than a chainsaw.
SCOOPS — Mike Swaggert’s custom tool can scoop out little “eye holes” on his sculptures, giving them texture and detail.
BOMBS AWAY! — Kathryn Juroscak (left) of Oscoda throws a cornhole bag, practicing with her partner Jessie Fulco for the cornhole tournament.
SWAGGY SUNFLOWER — Mike Swaggert’s sunflower and bear combo earned him fourth place in the chainsaw carving competition.
TALL MOOSE, TALL MAN — Matayo Montoya placed third in the chainsaw carving competition with a cartoon moose.
BOUNTY OF BEARDS — Judges had a wide ranges of beards to select in the “Best Beard” contest at the Paul Bunyan festival.
CUTE CANOERS — Kids had a ball riding around in the spinning rides at the carnival provided by Schmidt Amusements.
BEARS AND A BENCH — Sam Dougherty poses with his second place winning bench. He experimented with making bears with different faces, one having a wider cute face and the other having a narrower happy face.
JUDGES — Lain Mackenzie looks on as a beard contestant does a little dance to persuade her to deem his beard the best.
FIRST PLACE— Alonzo Montoya’s attention to detail earned him first place in the chainsaw carving competition during the annual Paul Bunyan days.
WEDGE SHAPED — Alonzo Montoya’s chainsaws have special bars to give the sculptor more control as he carves. Sometimes sculptors even shave off the back of the teeth on their chains to cut down on friction, but he doesn’t need to do that with his current setup, he says.
CARNIVAL — All sorts of fun rides kept the kids excited and happy for Paul Bunyan Days.
BEST BEARD — Chris Dembowske (center) poses with daughter Emersyn Dembowske (right), and family friend Lily Dejon (left). He won the “Best Beard” contest at this year’s Paul Bunyan Days
STARVING CARVIST — Sam Dougherty carves out his signature caricature bear from a white pine log during the annual Paul Bunyan Days held over the weekend at Furtaw Field.
KNURLED CYLINDER — Mike Swaggert’s custom tool makes wood sculpting easier as it can carve out detail easier than a chainsaw.
SCOOPS — Mike Swaggert’s custom tool can scoop out little “eye holes” on his sculptures, giving them texture and detail.
BOMBS AWAY! — Kathryn Juroscak (left) of Oscoda throws a cornhole bag, practicing with her partner Jessie Fulco for the cornhole tournament.
SWAGGY SUNFLOWER — Mike Swaggert’s sunflower and bear combo earned him fourth place in the chainsaw carving competition.
TALL MOOSE, TALL MAN — Matayo Montoya placed third in the chainsaw carving competition with a cartoon moose.
BOUNTY OF BEARDS — Judges had a wide ranges of beards to select in the “Best Beard” contest at the Paul Bunyan festival.
CUTE CANOERS — Kids had a ball riding around in the spinning rides at the carnival provided by Schmidt Amusements.
BEARS AND A BENCH — Sam Dougherty poses with his second place winning bench. He experimented with making bears with different faces, one having a wider cute face and the other having a narrower happy face.
JUDGES — Lain Mackenzie looks on as a beard contestant does a little dance to persuade her to deem his beard the best.
FIRST PLACE— Alonzo Montoya’s attention to detail earned him first place in the chainsaw carving competition during the annual Paul Bunyan days.
WEDGE SHAPED — Alonzo Montoya’s chainsaws have special bars to give the sculptor more control as he carves. Sometimes sculptors even shave off the back of the teeth on their chains to cut down on friction, but he doesn’t need to do that with his current setup, he says.
CARNIVAL — All sorts of fun rides kept the kids excited and happy for Paul Bunyan Days.
OSCODA — Paul Bunyan days gave downtown Oscoda some fun and festivities at Furtaw field.
The festival was a three-day event featuring carnival rides, crafts and chainsaw carvings. The family friendly event had something fun for everyone. It took place the weekend of Sept. 16-18.
The stars of the show were undoubtedly the chainsaw carvers.
Four carves participated in the contest this year, Alonzo Montoya being the most senior of them all.
Montaya has been a chainsaw carver for over 20 years, and is “arguably one of the best in the state,” said Gaylynn Brenoel, Director at the Oscoda AuSable Chamber of Commerce.
Montoya is a full time carver who attends shows and sells his work around the state.
He has specialized chainsaws with precision tips and smaller chains to get more detail out of the wood.
“Keep the chain sharp. Don’t carve dirt,” he said. That’s his secret for success.
Montoya prefers carving with white pine over any other wood because it cures nice.
“It weathers well, the cracks and checking are more forgiving as it dries. Some hardwoods will crack worse than others.”
This year, Montoya carved a bench with black bears peeking out of two support logs holding up the seat. The carving took around 16 hours of work in two days and earned him $800 in prize money for placing first.
Fellow contestant and “starving carvist,” Sam Dougherty says he tries to get as much as he can out of working with masters like Montoya.
He has been carving seriously for about five years.
“I got a good day job. I gotta keep the wife happy,” he said.
Doughtery also did a bench, but instead, the bears are holding up the seat. One seems to be putting in effort, while the other lifts the other end effortlessly.
Doughtery’s style of carving bears features a more caricature, blocky look.
“All of us have our own style, but I like to make my own bears cute and happy.”
Montoya’s bears had a more rounded, realistic look closer to an actual depiction of what a black bear looks like.
All chainsaw carvers need to know how to make a black bear, said Montoya. Bears sell more than any other carving. It doesn’t matter what pert of the country he’s in, from the Rocky Mountains to Florida, bears are number one.
“If you want to make money, something that pays the bills, everybody wants a black bear for some reason.”
As he took a break, a fair-goer approached him, asking to buy a bear statue.
“It looks good, I like the one with its tongue hanging out. It’s silly,” said the customer.
Montoya has a son, Matayo, he got into carving. He’s only 23, but he’s been around wood carving all his life thanks to his dad. He placed third in the carving competition with a moose sculpture.
“It doesn’t have a name,” said Matayo. “You can name it if you want. Maybe we could it Wally.”
“He grew up in it,” said his dad. After seeing his dad carve his whole life, he picked up a chainsaw and started selling carvings too.
In fourth place with a sunflower was Mike Swaggert.
Swaggert makes his own custom tools for his woodworking job.
He bought a knurled cylinder, meaning a tool with bumps for rasping wood, and ground out the end of it with a stone.
“It’s probably the one I use the most,” he said.
The knurled cylinder is good for carving out different shapes and strokes out of the wood. It is useful for carving eye holes, fur, leaves on a tree and more.
Swaggert’s sculptures heavily featured sunflowers and other plant-based themes.
Another attraction was the beard contest. Gentlemen with all types of beards lined up for the “best beard.”
Chris Dembowske of East Tawas won because of “genetics.”
Judge Lain Mackenzie said she liked his beard because it had “beautiful lengths, It was thick and silver and it looked like he ‘owned’ his beard.”
Dembowske had overalls on, setting him apart from the rest of the bearded men with only casual summer clothes.
Judge Stephanie Olson said she liked his beard because it was clean and tailored.
“You almost wanted to touch it,” she said.
“It was an amazing event,” said Brenoel. “There were record crowds, the people were happy, we had no complaints and the weather was perfect. Next time we hope to have more carvers and put on a bigger and better event than this year.”
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The Iosco County News-Herald and Oscoda Press' Autumn Guide 2022
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