A wood sculpture inspired by the War of 1812 was unveiled in Thamesville.
The artist, Mike Winia, is a professional chainsaw carver.
Winia, a Chatham-Kent native, said a dream of his was to create large-scale sculptures.
“When you're doing things for the people that you know and you've been around and you want to lift up and be a part of the growth of that society and community, and you get to do kind of your dream project. I mean, there's not a better thing that can probably happen to a person," said Winia.
The river is associated with the Battle of the Thames, a pivotal victory for the Americans during the War of 1812.
“You know, there's not a lot that represents the war that went on on that Thames River in this area and I thought well, it'd be really cool if we could kind of commemorate that a little bit with the dry river bed scene and and so that's kind of where the whole idea of the broken boat with the hole in it from a cannon came from,” Winia continued.
The process took roughly three weeks, with Winia sharing his ideas with local individuals and carving the pieces with Carver Kings Paul and Jacob Fernette.
This is the third sculpture that has debuted in Chatham-Kent (CK) and more are expected to roll out in the next three to four months.
“'ll be involved in quite a few, actually, I already have three more builds. right now and they're going to be epic,” Winia said. “This one is nothing compared to what the one I'm working on right now is.”
CK Mayor Darrin Canniff said these pieces of art are meant to attract more tourism.
“It's meant to be a photo op and we're going to be promoting it next year to encourage people to come to Chatham Kent to check out all the amazing communities that we have,” Canniff said.
Canniff said he is teaming up with local restaurants in each community to create dishes that tie in the new sculptures.
“They're going to tie in an appetizer and a drink of some sort in a local restaurant close to it, and that's going to be part of the tourism part, we want people discovering all the downtowns that they're going to,” Canniff continued.
These sculpture tours can attract over 100,000 people, according to Canniff.
The next unveiling is slated for Shrewsbury.
