Daniel Burgette

Dan Burgette of Tetonia, Idaho has served as a park ranger and mountain rescue coordinator for 27 years in Grand Teton National Park, where he gained a great deal of inspiration for his carvings. Burgette began thirty years ago while working at George Rodgers Clark National Historical Park in Indiana. As a ranger there, part of his job was to dress and perform in character as a frontiersman for park visitors. He would whittle for them as part of his performance, and he soon began to try his hand at carving in real life. His first piece was a canvasback that he carved with a tomahawk! Burgette first came to Ocean City to compete in 1989 and has been competing in the competition since. He won the Interpretive Wood Carving Division in 2001 and 2011.