Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.     There are all kinds of carousels in history. Most of them feature the rearing horses with flared nostrils and white rimmed eyes. Some stray from the norm and add a non-horse animal. But Nederland probably has the single most unusual carousel in the country, with carved critters that get curiouser and curiouser.

Last Friday, National Carousel Day, Nederland's Carousel of Happiness whirred round and round all afternoon long as visitors came to celebrate. People from the flatlands streamed into town and filled the parking lot, eager to join in the fun. Locals brought their children who licked up ice cream cones as fast as Lois Ott, Katrina Harms, and a team of volunteers could scoop it out. Black Cherry.

Two face painters were challenged by neverending lines of faces needing rainbows and bats and sparkles. Large bubbles wobbled in the breeze and burst in sprays of soapy water. Kids, with help from their parents, engaged in a scavenger hunt, trying to decipher clues to figure out the endangered species they identified.

The whole afternoon felt like a giant celebration.

And it was. Nederland residents should be proud to have the Carousel of Happiness live in our midst, a glorious renovated relic filled with laughter and light and love.