Many residents and volunteers in the Manitou Beach region deserve a pat on the back following the first ever Manitou Maple Madness Chainsaw Carving Competition this past weekend.

Hundreds of people attended the event over it's four days including the wrap up banquet Sunday night.

One of the organizers, Wayne Seabrook says leading up to the event trying to find the talent was perhaps one of the largest knots.

"I had a very difficult time contacting Saskatchewan carvers, I did manage to get a few names but it was tough. The Saskatchewan carvers were much harder to contact than Ontario, BC, and American ones as well."

They did mange to bring in a strong field for the event including Canada's representative at the World Cup event in Germany where they collected fourth place.

Seabrook says their main tool, the tree stumps were well received by the competitors as well.

"This wood that's here, I was just talking with one of the carvers and his piece is loaded with Spalding in his piece of Cottonwood and that wood is so beautiful."

The village wasn't sure how well the event would be received but it did go over quite well, despite the weather as Seabrook added.

"It just got bigger and now we realize that we can. We got this inclement weather, it's been terrible but yet we've still have our heads up. The community has been fabulous the way they've gotten behind everything."

While planning for the first time event the organizers planned to bring it back in both 2017 and 2019, that looks like status qua. In fact Seabrook says they are already looking for more wood.

"We sure would appreciate any donations we can get of wood, or help or whatever."

A number of the carvings were auctioned off for Camp Easter Seals, plus some will be kept in the community and become lasting legacies of the event.

You can hear more from Seabrook in his interview with Bolt FM's Andy Cohen below plus see a video of the action.