Spring Break
URI Alton Jones campus hosts range of 'wood' land creatures
Mary McGunigal
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News
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The Mystic Carvers Club of Mystic, Conn., sponsors the Retreat, which is held during Columbus Day weekend of each year.
Alton Jones has been its host for the past 12 years, and for 11 years, the carvers have traditionally bestowed a wooden animal sculpture to the campus as a tribute to their host site.
A range of wooden animals has since cropped up on campus, located mostly by the Environmental Education Center.
These include a life-size bear, a few raccoons, a doe and her two fawns and a ram's head mounted over the fireplace to honor the Rhody mascot.
"The first carving was the bear," recalled Linda Fraunfelter, a manager of food service and facilities at Alton Jones who also has a longtime involvement in the event's coordination. Johnson cites the 7-foot bear as the largest wooden animal made thus far.
Not all the sculptures are necessarily indigenous to the area; there is a moose found in front of the Environmental Education Center dining lodge, as well as an eagle.
One oddball sculpture is the Lorax, a fictional Dr. Seuss creature, which the carvers made for the pleasure of the young Alton Jones campers who put on a skit featuring none other than this character.
Ray Johnson, co-chair of the retreat since its inception, said his personal favorite is the red-tail hawk, though he is also partial to the three Canadian geese depicted in flight that were carved this year.
He said all the animals have a certain history surrounding them.
"The doe and fawns were actually done over two years," Fraunfelter said.
First came the doe, then the two fawns were crafted the following year. All three deer have "wooden cookie" necklaces -circular wood chips - bearing their names: Bucky, Bambi, and Rambo. The tradition of naming the animals started when Fraunfelter placed a wooden cookie on the bear, dubbing him "Pete."
