World champion carver to attend Chainsaw Rendezvous
RIDGWAY - Dennis Beach, who is well known to Ridgway locals and chainsaw carvers around the world, will be again attending the Ridgway Chainsaw Rendezvous which is scheduled for April 24 through the 27th at the Ridgway Mills Campground.
Beach, who won the World Champion Peoples Choice Award in Germany in May of 2023, along with his partner Dalton Scroggins, will be at the Rendezvous again this year. Not only did the two win the World Championship People's Choice Award, but they also won the People's Choice Award in Montana. The Peoples Choice Award is awarded by the people, not necessarily by the judges. Beach and Scroggins beat 19 carvers, with each team having two carvers. The carving winning the National Award was a canoe full of bears. The carving from the Montana award was also a canoe with some bears
and a large moose sitting among the bears.
For the last forty years, Beach has been traveling all over the country and the world doing what he does best, which is chainsaw carving. He was one of the very few carvers at the first Ridgway Rendezvous at Sandy Beach on a bitter cold weekend. When asked how he got started doing these amazing carvings,
Beach replied, "At one time I was doing taxidermy as my fulltime profession. I then started working for a tree trimming service and from that, I went to chainsaw carving as my only profession."
"I thought we might not win this year as there was a lot of competition, and as the old country music song goes, the competition is getting younger and good." said Beach. "I am not going this year to the Nationals. We are usually invited every two to three years. However, I am looking forward to coming to Ridgway. I don't go to as many roadshows now. There is a lot of young competition," added Beach.
Beach comes from a small town, Wapwallopen, PA near Hazelton in the eastern part of Pennsylvania.