On April 25, merchants, singers and jugglers will all come to the Memorial Hall lawn for the annual Renaissance Faire at Whitman.

The Czyhold family has been in Walla Walla for many years and has been blacksmithing for generations. Richard Czyhold, the local blacksmith, will be putting on a demonstration in place of his son, Ben Czyhold.

“My family has been farming here in the Walla Walla Valley for about four generations, and so my grandfather and great-grandfather did a measure of blacksmithing just by necessity,” said Ben Czyhold.

Ben Czyhold first figured out he wanted to be a blacksmith when he was a kid. He was often surrounded by blacksmithing equipment and wondered how it worked.

“My family had a number of metalworking tools and blacksmithing tools that they procured over the decades, and when I was a boy I would often ask my dad concerning an anvil or a hammer. I would ask, ‘How does that work?’ … So he would show me. And my father knew what blacksmithing my great grandfather and grandfather knew, and he’d pass it on to me,” said Ben.

When Ben Czyhold graduated from high school, he decided to pursue blacksmithing and metalwork.

“Just after high school I enrolled in the local community college here, and I enrolled in their two-year metal fabrication and welding program,” said Ben.

After completing the program at the local community college, Ben Czyhold initially decided to pursue a career in welding. He later realized that he would rather pursue blacksmithing.

“For a time I worked as a certified welder. But then my interest in the craft started to grow, and ever since about 2007 or so, I’ve been pursuing [blacksmithing] as a full-time career,” said Ben Czyhold.

Now Ben Czyhold works on various projects that he sells at the Farmer’s Market and other smaller venues like the Whitman Renaissance Faire. His projects range in function and appearance, but they mainly fall within the realm of architecture.

“In blacksmithing circles I would be known as an architectural blacksmith. I make things for house and home, buildings, some small sculpture, things of that nature. I pretty much make anything from wall hooks to handrails,” said Ben Czyhold.

In terms of stylistic approaches to his work, the natural world and its designs usually cross into Ben Czyhold’s own designs. For example, some of the works he has made are a wine holder in the shape of curling vines, wall hooks with faces on them and a sculpture of a cross.

“The natural world does enter into my work quite often,” said Ben Czyhold.

While Ben Czyhold focuses mainly on architectural blacksmithing, his father, Richard Czyhold, mainly makes sculpture and other art crafted from found objects.

“He specializes in the found objects and the fanciful creatures and sculpture. My own work tends to be on a smaller scale,” said Ben Czyhold.

The elder Czyhold uses more modern methods of creating his art. It is more conducive for fusing found objects with metal.

“I use welders and the more modern types of joinery,” said Richard Czyhold.

Ben has been involved with the Renaissance Faire for the past five years. He took over the blacksmith post after Torvald Sorenson retired. While it does not bring a huge amount of profit, Ben enjoys the atmosphere and appreciates exposure he receives from the community.

“The Whitman Renaissance Faire has been very good to me. It’s good exposure with the local community, and it gets on very well with the overall spirit and subject matter of the Faire,” said Ben Czyhold.

At the Faire, Ben brings some of his crafted work for event-goers to purchase, and he also puts on a demonstration.

“I bring my retail space, where I sell my little things and dad’s things too, and I have a traveling blacksmith’s shop … I have a small forge, anvil, a vice and I often bring that around to the Farmer’s Market [and Renaissance Faire] and I demonstrate with that setup … Small projects for the benefits of those watching,” said Ben Czyhold.

Though some might consider blacksmithing a dead art in the face of modern technological advancements, Ben Czyhold advocates strongly for the continuation of such an important craft.

“All the great works of humanity have been only possible because of blacksmithing … And there’s a lot of folks out there who think blacksmithing is gone or otherwise dissolved, but I for one and thousands of other blacksmiths around this country and the world would beg to differ,” said Ben Czyhold.