Although it was not dark, the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland brought back the annual fundraising event, Animals After Dark, complete with food and drinks on Saturday, June 11, 2022, at the Carousel, which is located in the Caribou Shopping Center in Nederland. A silent auction ran from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with a short live auction of a few items at 7:30 p.m.

As guests filtered in, many in 1920s period dress to fit the theme of the night, they explored the silent auction items and enjoyed dinner with Decent Bagel catering an Italian-style menu. The menu included Antipasti Appetizers with marinated mozzarella, tomato, salami and olive skewers, spiced Italian

Grilled peppers and onion, plus cheese, crackers and veggies. Then dinner with mini stuffed shells with Ricotta and Spinach, mini meatball parm hero, desserts, beer, wine and cocktails.

Following the dinner, Carousel Board President Carol Rowe, who has been president for three years, welcomed everyone to the first fund-raiser for the Carousel in three years. Welcome back.

Rowe thanked Bruce Erley, who announced for the night and has been helpful with his fund-raising experience. She said the Board is a nonprofit, and she introduced the six Board members, who are Dave Packer, fund-raising chair; Tim Whited, treasurer; Jen McGregor, Caleb Melamed, principal at the Nederland Elementary School and Kevin Jacobs.

Rowe introduced the new director, Melody Baumhover, who thanked the sponsors for the night, which were Citywide Banks, Kaleidoscope Fine Arts Gallery, B&F Mountain Market and Crosscut Pizza and said they had raised $5,500 in-kind donations to the event.

She introduced Founder Scott Harrison, who said a film crew had been at the Carousel last week for a travel show. He said this is nonprofit, and they have to raise funds tonight.

Harrison operated the Carousel for guests at the event, and those in attendance climbed on their favorite animal for the ride. The ride is accompanied by a 1913 Wurlitzer Organ with 102 instruments.

The evening concluded during live auctions and the silent auctions with live music from Laurie Dameron She has been playing the guitar for 50 years with a broad repertoire of folk, blues and jazz.

About the Carousel

Charles I.D. Looff was one of the great carousel makers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A skilled woodcarver, he arrived in New York City from Denmark in 1870 at the age of 18 and by 1876 had manufactured the first carousel for New York’s Coney Island. During his lifetime, he produced carousels for parks across the nation. In 1917, he delivered a carousel to the Great Saltair Park, just outside Salt Lake City, which would eventually find its way to Nederland, Colorado.

During its 42 years of operation, the Saltair carousel survived fires and wind storms.

In 1959, the park was declared bankrupt and Utah’s governor gave the Looff carousel to the Utah State Training School in American Fork, not far away. In 1976, school residents restored the animals under supervision.

In 1986, when the Utah State School carousel was sold to a buyer who only wanted the wooden animals, Scott Harrison, a resident of Nederland, learned that the empty frame was still standing and available. With the help of a friend, he took it apart and trucked it to Nederland.

As a young marine in Vietnam, Scott 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.

Starting with the rabbit that is now on the sign in front of the carousel, he went on to create more than 50 one-of-a-kind animals, 35 of which can be ridden. As he was finishing, he created a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and the small community of Nederland (then with a population of 1,500) came together to raise the $700,000 needed to build it a home.

The Carousel of Happiness opened on Memorial Day 2010 with a silent memorial to recognize the service of fallen veterans, including two of Scott’s Marine Corps friends.

For more information about the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland, go to https://www.carouselofhappiness.org/.