NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Long after the the Wilson County - Tennessee State Fair is over for another year, the Dedman Store's still right there in Fiddlers Grove Historic Village.
"Some of us are seasoned vets that have been carving for years and some of us are brand new," said Andrew Endert, carving a piece inside the Dedman Store.
I asked Endert what he was carving. My question wasn't about what he was creating. It was about what he was using to create the carving.
"I've been carving the inside of golf balls!" Endert smiled.
Endert doesn't paint the pieces at all, by the way. He cracks open a golf ball and whatever color core he finds, that helps create the piece.
"Sometimes color is mood," Endert nodded. "Usually if I get a red ball, I want to do a angry face. This yellow one, I thought that'd be nice for a sun flower. These pinks? That'd be a great rose. I cracked open these green balls and said, 'I'll do the Creature From the Black Lagoon!'"
Tuesdays and Saturdays, Endert's part of this group; the Fiddler's Grove Woodcarvers. Really, though, people carve lots of things.
"I'm carvin' a thread spool!" smiled Will Wells. "When I retired, my wife said, 'you're gonna have to get off the couch and stop drinkin'!' I thought, 'well, I'll take up carving!'"
I asked the group. Had anyone ever stabbed their finger?
"Yeah! This morning!" laughed one man, throwing up an index finger in a Band-Aid.
Occupational hazard.
People come to the group, learn from each other, and create whatever they like.
"It's going to be a hedgehog," one woman said, holding up a piece in progress.
Overlooking all this is an old picture of the late Roy Dedman.
Dedman and his wife opened the store back in 1945. It was originally on Trousdale Ferry Pike in Wilson County. People came to the store for everything. Dedman even cut hair. In the 50s, he had the first TV in the area, so people would gather at the store and watch it. From the beginning, Dedman Store was meant to bring people together. The store was donated back in 1991.
"I do think people appreciate the human element," Endert said.
Though Dedman probably couldn't have guessed there'd be so much golf ball carving in there, 81 years on, Dedman Store's still carving out community.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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