More than 1,000 people gathered in a scenic Minneapolis neighborhood for an annual ritual—the sharpening of a gigantic No. 2 pencil.

The 20-foot-tall (6-meter-tall) pencil was sculpted out of a mammoth oak tree at the home of John and Amy Higgins. The beloved tree was damaged in a storm a few years ago when fierce winds twisted the crown off. Neighbors mourned. A couple even wept. But the Higginses saw it not so much as a loss, but as a chance to give the tree new life.

The sharpening ceremony on their front lawn has evolved into a community spectacle that draws hundreds of people to the leafy neighborhood on Lake of the Isles, complete with music and pageantry. Some people dress as pencils or erasers.

In the wake of the storm, the Higginses knew they wanted to create a sculpture out of their tree. Given the shape and circumference of the log, they came up with the idea of an oversized pencil standing tall in their yard.

“Why a pencil? Everybody uses a pencil,” Amy Higgins said. “Everybody knows a pencil. You see it in school, you see it in people’s work, or drawings, everything. So, it’s just so accessible to everybody, I think, and can easily mean something, and everyone can make what they want of it.”

John Higgins said they wanted the celebration to pull the community together.

“We tell a story about the dull tip, and we’re gonna get sharp,” he said. “There’s a renewal. … And that chance for renewal, that promise, people really seem to buy into and understand.”

Like a real pencil, this one is ephemeral. Every year they sharpen it, and it gets a bit shorter. They have taken anywhere from 3 to 10 inches (8 to 25 centimeters) off a year. They haven't decided how much to shave off this year. They are okay knowing that they could reduce it to a stub one day. The artist said they will let time and life dictate its form—that is part of the magic.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.