A huge piece of art has sprouted up in Canton. But the wooden statue isn't your ordinary piece of art - it was carved to represent the town's community pride.

When Canton resident Mark Iverson found out the trees in his front yard were growing out of control, threatening the town's power supply in the process, he knew many of them had to be either chopped down, or face some major pruning.

"We ended up with a big silver maple tree that was still 25 feet tall and 12 feet around, and we were deciding what are we going to do with it," Iverson said.

Instead of whittling it down to a stack of firewood, Iverson's daughter Nikki had a different idea: why not carve the tree into a symbol of town pride?

"My daughter, being in school, we' all C-Hawk fans. We just decided that'd be the thing to do. We're close to the football fields in the background, we'd make it our Canton Pride, make something for Canton, to put the C-Hawk name on it," Mark Iverson said.

Iverson enlisted the help of local chainsaw carver Brad Hodne and engraver Greg Lohan to make the wooden statue happen.

One of the most eye-catching features about the carving is its height. It's nearly 20 feet tall.

What used to be two big branches are now a C-Hawk that towers over a smaller bird. Some residents will tell you it's a robin. Others say it's an oriole, the mascot of the nearby Lennox School District. But Iverson says he's trying to steer clear of any controversy, and that the beauty of artwork is in its interpretation.

"We'll let them decide what they think it is," Iverson said.

The intricate chainsaw work extends down the century-old trunk, where some parts of this carving are less symbolic and more cosmetic.

"In the back of it, there are squirrels that are only there because there's a hole in there. And because we couldn't fix the hole, we made two squirrels coming out, one going in, one going out," Hodne said.

It's those little details that are catching the attention of neighbors and other residents driving by.

"I think they're thinking, 'That's really cool how they made that and wondering who made it. I've seen a lot of people stop and just look at it and take pictures," Nikki Iverson said.

"Everybody really enjoys it. A lot of people are changing the way they drive so they can drive by it," Hodne said.

That's been gratifying to Hodne, who did the work for free. But it wasn't easy. Most logs he works with are no more than four or five feet tall and take about 20 minutes to complete. This one took more than 20 *hours over the course of a week and a half, while sitting in a cherry picker.

"I'm not a fan of heights, so at 20 feet in the air, it's more complicated," Hodne said.

But what isn't complicated is the message Iverson hopes this hometown pride spreads to the rest of the community.

"We had lived here pretty much all my life. And I think we need to be involved with our schools, it's very important to stand behind what it is and our schools," Mark Iverson said.

While it's hard to miss the carving during the daylight hours, it's not easy to see at night. So Iverson is in the process of putting up spotlights on the carving. He hopes to have them in place by next year.