Manitou Beach hosted a three day Chainsaw Carving Festival with carvers from all over Canada. Each of the carvers made a large piece and a few smaller “quick carves”, mostly of animals. Quite a number of people came out to watch, cheer and buy some of the sculptures which sold for hundreds to thousands of dollars.

We only saw the tail end of the festival when most of the carving was already complete. Mike Winia, of Bothwell, Ontario, was still working on a quick carve of a bald eagle and ended up finishing it in under 1.5 hours. Click on the video to see Mike at work.

The main carvings were quite large and exquisite and the town had a number of sculptures from these yearly events at various intersections.

Prizes were awarded, the top being $3000.

Manitou’s mineral springs have a unique mineral concentration that is said to be unique in the western hemisphere. It is said that they possess natural therapeutic skin and body care properties found only at a few places in the world (Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic and The Dead Sea of Israel). The Manitou Springs Mineral Spa has a pool to enjoy this water. The water is so rich in salt that it is impossible to sink and we just lay there on our backs like otters in warm water for 1.5 hours.

No map for today.