...

(Left) Don Elmore of Grass Valley, California, won first place in the Cholula Whittle Off for the third year in a row. Don’s key to creating a winning carving in timed contests like this one is to concentrate on the facial features. He carves the eyes, nose and mouth first and then works on the remaining features.

(Right) Second place in the Cholula Whittle-Off went to Kevin Bevill of Santa Cruz, California, for this caricature carving.

“I concentrated on the expression,” he says. “I knew that the more expression I could get into the face, the better the chances of winning.”

According to CCG certified judge Lou McNeil, picking the winners for the Cholula Whittle-Off gets harder and harder each year, mostly due to the increasing skill levels of the participants.

“We’ve had a steady increase in the number of carvers who participate each year,” Lou says. “And each year, we get carvers who are more and more proficient.”

Lou estimates that about three-quarters of the carvers at this past year’s Cholula Whittle-

Off were expert carvers; the rest of the carvers were carving at an advanced skill level.
Because the contest is “anything goes” — carvers can carve faces, animals, objects — a team of judges worked together to whittle down the number of contestants to three. Don Pert and George Morris, both CCG certified judges as well, joined Lou choose the top three carvings.

The judges looked first for originality and second for cleanliness of cuts. After about half an hour, the judges announced their final selections.

For his efforts, Don was awarded a set of five large and five small Flex Tools valued at about $200. Second place and a slightly smaller set of Flex Tools was awarded to Kevin Bevill of Santa Cruz, California. Third place and yet another set of Flex Tools went to Hal Rooker of Fresno, California. Their bottle stoppers — along with all the other stoppers, both winning and non-winning from the past three years — are currently displayed in the CCG Museum in San Simeon, California.

CCG President Gary Youngs is more than pleased with the continuing success of the Cholula Whittle-Off.

“We have a unique contest here, one that is growing in popularity each year,” Gary says. “The detail and quality of the entries is always phenomenal. I’ve been carving for 25 years now, and I’m always amazed at what the carvers can come up with in the space of an hour and 45 minutes.”

The idea for the Cholula Whittle-Off stemmed from a number of carvers who frequented a favorite restaurant, Rosa’s Cantina, when in town for the annual CCG carving competition. While waiting for their food, the hungry carvers would whittle away at the wooden stoppers that topped the bottles of hot sauce at the tables. Their hard work would be presented to their waitresses or left on the table for other customers to enjoy. By 1995, the whittled bottle stoppers became the focus of an official CCG competition held at the Cantina.


Third place was awarded to Hal Rooker of Fresno, California, for this chip carving. Judges were impressed by the creativity of the carver and with his clean cuts.