Adirondack Carvers Co-Op holds unique ribbon cutting at Grand Opening celebration

The Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce holds many ribbon cuttings throughout the year to welcome new businesses to the Lake George Area. These events almost always include an oversized pair of blue-handled scissors. That was not the case Friday afternoon at the Grand Opening of Adirondack Carvers Co-Op. The Adirondack Carvers Co-Op, at 1135 State Route 9 in Queensbury (next to Martha’s Dandee Creme) is a group of chainsaw artists, and only a wooden ribbon cut with a chainsaw would do.

Over the past several years, drivers traveling on Route 9 past Six Flags Great Escape will undoubtedly have noticed a cluster of chainsaw bears and other carvings emerging from the trees across the street from the roller coasters. Chainsaw artist Glenn Durlacher moved his carving operation, Glen Tree Art, to the site in 2017 and often could be seen, through a flurry of flying woodchips, working on his various projects. Friday’s ribbon cutting marks the start of an expanded venture that gathers the work of multiple artists into the space.

“Both Glen and I came from the food industry,” says Kirk Sheloski, who is running the co-op with Durlacher. “We were ice carvers,” he explains and says he continues his work in ice doing the ice sculptures for the Adirondack Pub & Brewery’s annual Funky Ice Fest and for the ice sculpture garden at Winter Realms in Wood Park. He began working in wood five years ago and finds it less forgiving than ice. “Ice you can cheat a little,” he says, “[with] wood you need all the details and all those different angles.”

Adirondack Carvers Co-Op also includes Nick Kelley from Ballston Lake. “I do the big stuff — the lumberjack, the big foot,” Kelley says. The Pratts, a family of carvers from Western New York also contribute to the co-op’s sculpture offerings.

In addition to chainsaw art, visitors to the co-op can shop in a gift shop stocked with handcrafted items. Connie Hoag hangs her slate painting there, and Missy and Tim Sheloski bring a variety of unique handmade items. “We mix and match all sorts of crafts,” says Missy, which includes needle felting work, birdhouses, wooden flags, bottle openers, clocks and Adirondack-themed signs. Missy operates a gift shop, “The Cottage,” on Vaughn Road in Hudson Falls.

During the summer season, Durlacher and Sheloski are on-site seven days a week, but Adirondack Carvers Co-Op is open to the public even when no carvers are present. Visitors may stroll the pathways to view the sculptures and will find contact information on-site if they are interested in a piece.

At the Grand Opening celebration, Lake George Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gina Mintzer summed up the experience of visiting the co-op’s sculpture garden by saying “People come taking all their pictures and just the joy of that, in and of itself, to really admire all the artistry, It’s phenomenal.”