A piece of wood, a few tools and a little imagination. Fred Gross has been carving wooden animals, cars and even Santa Claus for the past 41 years. The now 89-year-old took interest in the hobby in the early 1980s after seeing a competitive word carver named Helene Labelle’s work at a show in Winnipeg. “She had a mallard duck sitting on a table,” Gross told CTV News. “I’ll never forget it. If you went out in the marsh, caught a real one, and put it beside [Labelle’s] – hers would have flown away first.” Gross was so impressed, he bought his first carving knife and has been crafting creations ever since. His specialty – animals of all shapes and sizes. “You basically can’t just carve an animal,” Gross said of the process. “You have to know the animal. It would be like carving a giraffe with no neck. I mean, it wouldn’t be a giraffe.” Gross, a former shops teacher in Gladstone and Stonewall, figures he’s whittled his way through about 100,000 pieces over the past four decades. Some of his creations, namely a collection of brightly-coloured fridge magnets, have found homes all over the place. “I did buy a map of Manitoba, and I carried it for 25 years. And every time I sold one, I’d ask where it went,” he explained. “I’d put a little dot on a map, and at year 25, I could no longer see Manitoba.” Gross still sells magnets every weekend to Prairie Dog Central passengers when the train stops in Grosse Isle, a rural community northwest of Winnipeg. He sets up shop at the Grosse Isle Heritage Site alongside other vendors selling everything from hotdogs and ice cream to jewelry and quilts. Donna Ridgeway, the heritage site’s president, describes Gross as a perfect example of what a small community is all about. “His kindness and generosity and friendliness,” Ridgeway told CTV News. “And just showing the value in doing something that brings you joy.” Gross makes a couple of dollars on each sale, but said it’s never really been about the money – rather, it’s a love of working with his hands and, sometimes, a way to forget about a bad day. “I would get into a piece of wood and about 15 minutes in… I could actually feel myself mellow right out and become a human being again,” Gross said. He encourages other people to find their own labour of love and carve out some time in life for it. “If you do, I think you’ll really excel at it.”
