(Cam Lee/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

Back Alley Tour

Melfort Northern Lights Woodcarvers part of Back Alley Tour

Jul 17, 2025 | 4:12 PM

The Back Alley Tour in Melfort was in full swing on Thursday.

The ninth annual event features artists from the northeast and beyond displaying a wide variety of artwork.

Artists at the show in the alley behind Northern Lights Gallery work in many different mediums, including metal, canvas, and crystal.

One of the most well-known groups represented at the Back Alley Tour is the Melfort Northern Lights Woodcarvers.

Al Jardine told northeastNOW they have been around for about 30 years, carving a variety of works in Melfort. Some of the most well-known carvings are faces in the trees at Spruce Haven Park, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“It’s a beautiful place in there and we decided to adopt that bush, clean it out and make it our space” Jardine explained. “We’ve cleaned it out so well that it’s everybody’s space now and, in the process, we realized that we enjoy carving in logs.”

The faces were a huge hit, especially with children. Jardine said there were concerns from some people whether the carvings would damage the trees, but five years later they are all still healthy and the carvings will be overgrown by the tree in the future.

After the faces were carved in the trees, the woodcarvers wondered what was next. Jardine said they looked for a project everybody in the club could do during any season, and they decided on the gate post project. Jardine said that it became the go-to project during the summertime for a while, but the club realized they had enough gate posts at Spruce Haven Park.

The woodcarvers then moved onto a massive chair made of logs that was displayed in the Kerry Vickar Centre. That allowed many kids and kids-at-heart to take pictures of them sitting on the chair. Jardine said their current project is to assemble a shelter for the chair, which will be housed at Spruce Haven Park.

(Melfort Northern Lights Woodcarvers/Facebook)

“We’re doing the corner posts for the shelter’s roof support,” Jardine said. “That project should be finished by next spring, and the shelter will be put up in the park in the fall of next year.”

Jardine said they have to wait for the ground to be solid enough for a concrete truck to pour a pad, and that should happen late next summer or early fall.

So after the shelter – what’s next? Jardine’s not even sure himself, but he said perhaps they’ll carve more faces in the trees at Spruce Haven Park, since they were such a hit.

Ultimately, Jardine said the club would like to see some younger members give woodcarving a try and add to the Melfort Northern Lights Woodcarvers’ creativity.

(Cam Lee/northeastNOW)

They had some logs on-site at the Back Alley Tour that were ready for carving, and what’s left will be donated to the Melfort Legion for a fundraiser.

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cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com