Another Special Carving Art–Carousel Animals

Butchart Gardens, BC, Canada

Carousel of Happiness

I recently visited the carousel of happiness–an amazing combination of folk art and community in Nederland, Colorado.

It’s story:

As a young Marine in Vietnam Scott Harrison had received a tiny music box that he held to his ear to distract him from the horror of the war going on around him. The music, Chopin’s “Tristesse”, brought him a peaceful image of a carousel in a mountain meadow. After rescuing the abandoned Looff carousel in Utah he spent the next 26 years hand-carving animals to bring it back to life.
Scott had never carved before but, starting with the rabbit that is now on the sign in front of the carousel in Nederland, he went on to create more than 50 one-of-a-kind animals, 35 of which can be ridden. As he was finishing, the small community of Nederland (pop. 1500) came together under Scott’s leadership, and raised the $700,000 to build it a home.