Salt Lick Sculpture Contest Serves A Good Cause

Salt Lick Sculpture Contest Serves A Good Cause FARM HOME Novelty Items Last September Baker City Oregon hosted its 10th annual Salt Lick auction an event where 50-lb blocks of salt – licked by livestock into artistic shapes - are put up for bidding The salt licks come from local ranchers who submit their most interesting “sculptures” and most of the money from the auction proceeds goes for research into Parkinson’s disease     The whole community from ranchers to art lovers to the cows themselves participate in the annual event to benefit Parkinson’s research at Oregon Health and Science University     Local ranchers scour their pastures sometimes with the help of other community members looking for the most creatively licked salt blocks The blocks are then named have poems written about them and are displayed for the auction     The idea is to collect salt blocks from ranchers across the county award cash prizes to the best one and then auction them off to the highest bidder Local merchants participate and anyone who brings in an already licked block of salt get a brand new block in return              “Salt licks are like snowflakes – no two are alike ” says Whit Deschner     The story began one fateful day in 2007 when Deschner was sitting on the front porch of a friend’s cabin “We were admiring one of the salt licks that had been licked by deer in front of his cabin It looked quite artistic The first year I did the contest as a joke It took two of us to organize the whole show and a week to do it It evolved into an annual charity fundraiser event ”     The cause is close to Deschner’s heart ever since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s     According to Ginger Savage executive director of the Crossroad Art Center the salt lick entries come in all shapes and in a variety of colors from Cobalt blue to the usual white salt to brown which is a mineral salt block to red selenium blocks and even yellow sulfur     There were 40 entries this year The “artists” were cattle deer elk and for the first time a rabbit The event began with visitors making a selection for their favorite The choice ended in a tie Sparkle a fainting goat became the final judge in determining the winner     For more information about the Salt Lick Visit www whitdeschner com; ph 541 519-2736

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