Made our way from eastern Washington into Montana and stayed a couple of days in Missoula. Braved the heat to explore the downtown area, walking along the Clark Fork River. We enjoyed Caras Park and a walk along the riverfront.
Located in Caras Park is A Carousel For Missoula - a dream created by the community in the heart of the city. While it is definitely a vibrant and fun addition to the park, what is even more remarkable is that the carousel and surrounding park were built by designer Chuck Kaparich and community volunteers.
Each of the ponies is hand-carved and painted. Volunteer families enclosed memorabilia inside the horses before they were painted.
The carousel includes 38 ponies and 2 chariots and many other carved pieces. These were created under the direction of head carver John Thompson, who taught over 50 volunteers how to carve the horses, gargoyles, mirror frames and other decorations
The ponies are unique in design. Each one weighs between 120 and 200 pounds. They have beautiful detailing, and their tails are made of fibers that seemed to me to resemble real horse tails.
The charm of the carousel is further enhanced with carvings and mirror panels in the upper border. The decorations of the surrounding frame have a dragon motif, with multiple carvings of dragons and a stained glass window showing a dragon.
A large dragon flies above the carousel, and dispenses rings to the riders for them to catch as they speed by, and a lucky one may catch the Brass Ring, to get a free ride.
The dragon's name is Lucky Red Ringer. Information in Wikipedia tells a fun story about the dragon - it has a wedding ring on it's left paw. The ring was added by carver John Thompson after his wife told him he was spending more time with the dragon than with her :)
From the carousel, we headed across the river, to explore this impressive red brick building, which turned out to be the Northwest Headquarters of the Boone and Crockett Club. This is a non-profit organization which was founded by Teddy Roosevelt in 1887 to advocate fair chase practices for hunters and to promote conservation of wildlife habitat. It is the oldest conservation organization in the United States. They worked to expand and protect Yellowstone National Park and established the National Park and National Forest Services, as well as the National Wildlife Refuge system.
This big fella towered over the other animals among the collection of taxidermy specimens on display in the building.
After a morning of exploring, we took time out for lunch on the patio, where Murphy was loved up by the waitresses and had a bite...or three...of cheeseburger!
And a rest in the shade...
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