FESTUS, Mo. — The Wood Den, a Festus business that offered original chainsaw woodcarving pieces, has closed.
Ryan Meyer, the woodcarving artist who owned the business at 2 N. Sixth St., said he had to close up shop because he had a stroke earlier this year.
Meyer, 53, a retired Festus R-6 teacher, auctioned off all his inventory of woodcarvings.
“We shut the doors to the Wood Den (on Oct. 11),” he said in a phone interview. “We had an auction (on Oct. 12). Everything’s gone.”
Meyer said he continues to recuperate from the stroke he had in February.
“Realistically, I can’t keep up with making things and running a business,” he said. “It was really the only decision to make.”
Meyer’s shop had become something of a local landmark, with giant wood statues of everything from an oversized chair to a Marine to movie characters displayed outside the building.
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