Carousel Of Happiness

You can’t come here and not be impressed at the amazing story behind all the equally amazing art pieces that make up this unique carousel. It’s a small building beside an equally smaller train cart located in a small strip mall parking lot. You walk in through an even smaller gift shop to purchase your carousel tickets and pick your ride amongst all the amazing hand carved animals. There are newspaper articles to read all over the walls and not an inch of space in which your eyes won’t be delighted with seeing some amazing detail. Your inner kid will feel just as happy as the little girl twirling at the very top.

These guys are great. The story behind this place is really heartwarming. My gal and I spun for several rides to the circus-​styled sounds of oldies through historic music-​making device. Dig the history, pride, and beauty of this enterprise.

100% happiness! No matter how old you are, ride the carousel. Only a dollar! You will also hear the story behind it — a Vietnam veteran carved all the animals as therapy and to give happiness to all that visit.

This place is a treasure. One Vietnam vet carved each animal by hand. Although it is a complete carousel, with an animal in each slot, it is still a work in progress. They occasionally swap out the animals with new ones. I hear there is a new rooster in place of the fish. The fish is on tour in shops around town.
It’s worth it to drive up the canyon just to see the carousel. On the second floor there is a puppet theatre with tons of puppets for kids to play with. On the second floor therr is also a viewing area where you get a different perspective of the carousel’s details. They also have a room for private parties. The room is really small, but they also offer the option of hosting parties when it’s not open to the general public. Great place to celebrate a little kid’s birthday.

Why am I just finding out about this?
The Carousel of Happiness has the most amazing history to it. Just look it up — and then drive to Nederland and support this incredible place. The people that care for it are so wonderful. I look forward to bringing my kids here as much as possible. LOVE.

A Marine Vietnam vet artist painted all these animals by hand and the $ 1 ride ticket goes towards the non-​profit organization that helps special needs kids.
If your passing by Nederland, stop by and take a trip down to happiness lane!

How can you not love this? Look for the fox on the top of the carousel. I’m sure you will figure it out.

Such an incredible place. These animals are works of art. My two sons love coming here!

The review that wrote itself…
Short while back, Anthony M. kidded me, «are you going to write all your reviews from a Southwest window seat?»
Even better! Spirit magazine has a write up this month about this magical spot in Ned. The article filled in some details for me, but here’s the version I was told one brisk Spring baseball evening as my childhood friend drove the curvy mountain road from Ned to Boulder as we were en route to a game:
The carousel that you just rode was a labor of love and healing. It was a man, a soldier, caught in Vietnam in war-​time and he received a gift from his sister back in the States. It was a music box. He listened to it to escape the pain and hell that was present all around him. He let the music take him to a mountain meadow where he imagined happiness and peace. He kept the music box in his backpack, always close to his side.
A different sound ended his experience though — mortar and shell blasts. Shrapnel stole the music box, wounded him and sent him to a painful recovery. He went through more hell, but finally home — to a country that shunned its vets.
Lost in grief, this man took to his vision and began carving animals that he wanted in that musically bright meadow. Each one, a nod to Joy. Life size. Life affirming. Happy. Each and every one — loved and unbound — floating to the music box music. After 29 years of carving… he had all the animals, it was time to find them their mountain meadow home. That place: Nederland, CO.
Still today: Carousel rides always one dollar.
I feel blessed that I heard the carousel’s story orally — sitting in the backseat of a Subaru — being buffeted by mountain air. The air entwined the scent of pine with the words, as we wound our way to a Rockies game. I had goose bumps and I do again right now. I’m flying from Salt Lake City… and just now read — on the shore of The Great Salt Lake was the carousel’s first home. (The frame of it, you know, built in 1910.)
There’s other details in the Spirit mag, so I’ll leave it to you to find out more. Don’t be surprised if you go looking for it… and maybe a whale winks at you.
This Memorial Day weekend, a «thank you» to all who serve and to Scott Harrison who not only went above and beyond, but whose dream of happiness still goes «around and around» today.

When I think of going to my happy place, this will be it!
What a charming carousel, what a beautiful story and a wonderful gift to the world. :) I have driven by this many times and thought, what a quirky place to have a carousel. But after visiting this place I realize that this is more than just a carousel, it really is a story of one mans passion, a passionate community that rallied around this project and the realization of this beautiful dream. A Vietnam veteran and local Nederland resident — Scott Harrison dreamed about the carousel in a mountain meadow as an escape from the horrors of the Vietnam war. He spent over 26 years realizing his dream through carving all of the animals and restoring the carousel to it’s original grandeur. Each animal is lovingly carved and painted and you can almost feel the personality of the creator. The community raised $ 700,000 in 2009 to build a building to house the carousel. There’s an old Wurlitzer Band organ that plays, adding to the magic of the experience. It’s really a testament to his passion and the passion of a community to help a man realize the beauty of his dream. Rides are only $ 1 and it doesn’t matter how old you are, every one is transported back to childhood on this ride. This carousel has magic — definitely go for a ride the next time you happen to find yourself in Ned.

We stumbled upon this three years ago while on vacation and it was one of the big highlights. So, we had to come back when we returned to the Colorado area this year.
Wonderful, cheap thrill.
Beautiful, creative restoration. Friendly volunteers. Lovely music. A tiny bit of history.

An incredible place with an incredible history. Please come get your smile on! Open for the summer 7 days a week…

I love the Carousel of Happiness — such a great place to put an instant smile on my face!

A must visit in Ned with or without kids. And for only one dollar, you can afford to ride a few times. I love the cow that has a real cow bell on her. Beautiful.

i love carousels
what a quality carousel
yums

Honestly, this is one of the coolest carousels in the nation. The story behind it is amazing, the people of Nederland are incredibly warm, and it barely costs anything. All the animals were hand-​carved by the same Nederland resident.
Go there.
Ride twice.
Check out the upstairs.
Put on a puppet show for your friends. (it doesn’t matter how silly it is.)
Read the history.
Talk to the locals.
Leave feeling genuinely happy.

This was a neat stop on our trip to Nederland. The carousel is really cute and we had a fun time selecting which animals we were going to ride on. They only charge $ 1 per ride, so you can afford to go multiple times or take a larger group of kids. The gift shop had some cute and unusual things (used carousel themed coffee mugs from all over the country for $ 5 each) and they provide restrooms.
It’s right next to a cool coffee shop that is inside of two ancient railroad cars. They have mini donuts that are freshly fried up and an area with old timey candy. A perfect place to stop and enjoy time with the kids.

Love this place! This carousel was actually somewhere else in the 1800s. It took them years to move it to Nederland. The floor of the carousel is amazing and original — so pretty!
The most amazing thing about this carousel, in my opinion, is that it is entirely green. There’s even a screen that you can look at that shows where the energy is coming from and how much energy is stored to run the carousel. Fantastic.
Plus, there’s a cute little gift shop attached.

How could you not love a celebration of Happiness? Especially if it’s only a dollar?
The day we visited, I happened to have an evil Irish Whiskey hangover, so did not partake in the joy, but my daughter and her friend Lala had three consecutive rides of incessant smiles and laughter.
This merry-​go-​round is a 22 year labor of love in a green building, and all proceeds benefit children with special needs.
Humbugs, start scowling…
Cheers~