War memorial taking root in Estevan

REGINA – A war memorial being carved just south of Estevan has received a lot of attention despite still being a work in progress.

The Estevan Soldiers’ Tree is being carved on a farm a few kilometres south of the city.

The project began September 12th, and in the past two months many people have leant their services to the sculpture’s creation.

Oilfield worker Darren Jones recently spent 11 days carving the tree with a chainsaw.

Jones works closely with a five person committee on developing the ideas for the monument. Author Marie Donais Calder is one of the committee members and said they have been blown away by the support.

“In fact on the Facebook page, which is just three weeks old, we’ve had close to 40,000 hits,” she told Global News. “In addition to that people are making treks down to see the tree. They’re bringing friends and family, and they’re making repeat trips.”

She said that once the sculpture is complete they hope to relocate the tree to Estevan; ideally in front of the courthouse.

Jones has returned home to Alberta for the winter, and will return to finish his work in April.