Life

Chainsaw artist will make art of tree

Chainsaw Dan will make this tree a work of art.

By Lightning Staff, Published: April 29, 2012

Dead but stout, a tree on the grounds of the Henderson County Visitors Center will become a work of art during the upcoming Garden Jubilee.

Folks at the county tourism promoting agency were mulling what to do about the dead hardwood, which has already been handsomely trimmed so it is not a danger. Who you gonna call? Mountain Dan the Chainsaw Man, of course. Dan Smathers, as his mother named him, will make the dead come alive in the form of ... well, no one knows yet. Dan, of Etowah, carves trees into bears and other animals.

His work will amount to live performance art of a sort, as he'll undertake the noisy, chip-spraying while Garden Jubilee visitors look just north of the Visitors Center.

Garden Jubilee is the biggest event of the year put on by the Travel & Tourism board, attracting more than 50,000 people to Main Street to stroll among the flowers, vegetable plants and outdoor crafts.

The event, which covers eight blocks, now features more than 200 vendors selling everything from herbs to hot dogs.

This year Southern Living magazine's landscape & garden specialist Bill Slack returns at the Lowe's lawn and garden tent located at the Visitors Center. Slack, a landscape and gardening specialist with Southern Living for 19 years, and is making his 10th appearance at Garden Jubilee.

He will give free clinics in the Lowe's lawn and garden tent located at the Visitors Information Center, 201 South Main Street. He will give three talks on Saturday, May 26: 11:00 AM "WOW! What a beautiful front yard;" 1 pm, "No sun in your garden? No problem;" and 3 pm, "Through the garden gate, Pathways and Patios"; and repeating two on Sunday, 1 pm "WOW! What a beautiful front yard" and 3 pm "No sun in your garden? No problem."