A couple of the elk sculpted by Joseph resident Dennis Jones are seen where the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation put them on display.

ENTERPRISE — Among the celebratory events marking the 40th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is a Saturday banquet in Enterprise, but this year’s affair will happen without one of its prime movers and shakers.

Joseph-area sculptor Dennis Jones, known for his monumental bronze monuments of wildlife is on the road and won’t be able to be there Saturday, May 11, at the Cloverleaf Hall at 600 NW 1st St. The banquet runs from 5-10 p.m.

“I wanted to be, but I just couldn’t make it,” he said by telephone Monday.

Jones said that at the first show he attended in his artistic career in Spokane, Washington, he met representatives of the foundation who were there to promote their nascent organization. From then on, Jones and the foundation worked to promote each other.

Jones has been living — and hunting and fishing — in Wallowa County since 1985. He’s also been casting bronze pieces since then.

“I’ve hunted in 13 countries and taken a lot of elk here,” he said, adding that he hunts by archery, too.

“I’ve been hunting in Wallowa County forever,” he said.

He’s not gone unrecognized for his sculpture, which he’s had cast at area foundries. A 13-foot-tall elk graces the front of the foundation’s headquarters in Missoula, Montana, and was featured on the cover of the foundation’s Bugle magazine, which goes out every other month to members.

Jones’ work has proven popular with lovers of sculpture and of wildlife. He sold a sculpture of an elk that was twice life-sized for $70,000-$80,000.

His sculptures, he said, are “scattered all over this country,” he said, adding that it helps to be “connected to the right people.”

Living just north of Joseph, Jones doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon, though he has been cutting back a bit the past decade.

“When you’re an artist, you don’t really retire,” he said.

If You Go

The Wallowa Mountain Chapter Banquet for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is scheduled for Saturday, May 11 at Cloverleaf Hall, 600 NW First St. in Enterprise. Doors open at 5 p.m. The event includes dinner, raffles, games and other activities. Ticket prices vary for the event. For more information, go to this website: bit.ly/3JOaizJ