When Thompson's Wade Anderson felt a tap on his shoulder at the end of the chainsaw carving contest during the Northern Manitoba Trapper's Festival in The Pas, he wasn't expecting to see comedian Rick Mercer.

"I didn't know he was there," said Anderson, who won a 353 Husqvarna chainsaw for taking first place in the contest with his sculpture of an eagle. "I shut off the saw and he was standing right in front of me. I took my sunglasses off, looked up and the camera was right in front of me. It took me off guard that way."

Mercer conducted a quick interview with Anderson but didn't make any jokes at the chainsaw carver's expense.

"It's just the way he does his interview," says Anderson. "He's pretty upbeat, he's pretty quick. He's always got something comical to say."

Anderson said he would be watching March 2 when the episode aired to see if he made the final cut.

"Hopefully I'm on there," he said.

Mercer's appearance at the festival required an adjustment on the part of the chainsaw carvers, who learned just before the event started that they would have only two hours to do their sculptures, rather than the usual two, so that they would finish at about the time Mercer arrived.

"It was a bit of a panic to try to get my eagle done as much as I could in two hours," said Anderson, the fastest he'd ever done one. "It was pretty crazy. Everybody was going as fast as they could."

Despite the rush, Anderson, who's been carving for five years and has done ice sculptures as well as wood, said he figured he had a shot at the title in his first competition at the Trapper's Festival.

"I thought I had a fair chance of winning from what I saw there," said Anderson. "I won a chainsaw and a little bit of cash."

Normally, he said, the carvings are auctioned off at the end of the contest, but this year, Mercer's departure to the next event on his itinerary saw most of the crowd disappear along with him, so no auction was held.

"I kept mine," said Anderson, noting that this was a chainsaw-only competition, which cuts down on the amount of detail work a carver can do. "It gets a little tricky. You can do it, but you have to be very careful. You've got to know how to use the saw. A mistake will destroy your piece."

Anderson says it would be nice if Thompson's Winterfest would bring back the chainsaw-carving contest it used to offer.

"We used to have one for a couple of years," he said, with the noise and speed making it fun for spectators as they watch the sculptures take form. "It's just a different type of art form. It's just a form of sculpture like any other medium."