Wood carvings added to trees east of the labyrinth at Spruce Haven by the Northern Lights Wood Carvers. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Wood spirits

Wood carvers adding to trees at Spruce Haven, children’s summer activities getting underway

Jun 23, 2020 | 11:36 AM

It’s a literal facelift to some trees at Spruce Haven Park.

The Northern Lights Wood Carvers have been busy at work adding wood spirits to some of the trees east of the Labyrinth.

Northern Lights Wood Carvers adding spirits to trees east of labyrinth at Spruce Haven Park. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

Program Coordinator with the City of Melfort, Kathy Gray said the group of carvers has successfully carved trees for several years after researching how to create the art piece without harming the tree.

“The trees that are being carved were chosen really carefully and for a variety of reasons,” Gray said. “They are also working on some unsightly tree stumps to create gnome homes.”

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Stump turned into a gnome home east of labyrinth at Spruce Haven Park. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

Gray added keeping the park beautiful is important and benefits everyone in the community.

Recently, there were 185 new trees planted in the park and the plan is to add more over the next three years.

“I hope that in creating areas of interest within the park that it will be widely used,” Gray said.

The Northern Lights Wood Carvers adding wood spirits to trees east of the labyrinth at Spruce Haven Park. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

During a tour of the area, carver Al Jardine said they were happy to help out with beautifying the area. They planned to be on site on Monday and Wednesday but are trying to put in a full day today with rain in the forecast for Wednesday.

The group of carvers also includes Ken Luthi, Russel Porter, Colleen Kirkham, and Doris Sheldon.

“The carvers all have a wide variety of skills, some like to carve in bark and some don’t. Some like to carve some very fine details and some do more of character-type carving but they are all very skilled,” Gray said.

Some of the doors used in the fairy forest added to the area were cut out by Jardine and Kirkham as well.

“It is just such a beautiful park and I think there are a lot of people that don’t really know about it so we hope this helps bring more people here,” Luthi said.

Ken Luthi works on his tree carving at Spruce Haven Park. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

There will be fairy forest tours Tuesday afternoon for all ages at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. with storytime and a walk-through.

“The children will also be given a planter, and rocks and they can choose some homes to do some landscaping on, just to add another pretty touch to it,” Gray said.

There were limited spaces for the tours and potential participants were asked to register before-hand to claim a spot.

The community ambassador program is having its soft start this week which includes the fairy forest tours and some activities on Wednesday on Friday.

Brunswick and Burke Kinsmen playgrounds will play host to ages five to eight from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and ages nine to 12 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“We just want to keep our numbers in a safe range and the ambassadors will also need numbers to have activity kits ready for everyone,” Gray said.

Register for the activities at kvc@melfort.ca or by calling 752-4177.

The hope is to have registration move online with a week or two posted ahead of time for ease of registration.

“It is a little bit hard to plan ahead much further than that because of weather,” Gray said. “Also, with the program being new we would like to take the first few weeks to see how things are going and respond to community needs.”

Children’s summer activities are typically held at those two parks which also have water features. Brunswick Kinsmen Playground is home to the paddling pool while Burke Kinsmen playground has the splash pad that normally opens at the beginning of July.

It is not yet clear if and when the water parks will open for the summer season.

The spray park at Spruce Haven is set to open Wednesday, July 24 as spray pads and outdoor pools are part of phase four of the reopen Saskatchewan plan.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser