A Carousel for Missoula

A volunteer-built, hand-carved carousel in Caras Park in downtown Missoula, Montana, opened on May 27, 1995.

In 1991, cabinet-maker Chuck Kaparich offered to build a carousel if the city would provide a permanent home and keep it intact. Volunteers restored an antique frame and motor comprising 16,066 pieces, while carvers and painters created the figures. More than 100,000 volunteer hours went into the project before opening day.

The opening-day collection included 38 permanent ponies, 3 replacement ponies, 2 chariots, and 14 decorative gargoyles and their frames, along with a band organ. The replacement ponies are not additional platform seats. Local schoolchildren raised one million pennies to adopt four ponies, and Calgary's Midnight Rose Carvers contributed a friendship horse. Volunteers continue carving, restoring figures, and maintaining the carousel.

Columbia Belle is the lead horse. The four Penny Ponies are Meriwether, Moonlight, Sir Franklin and Snapples. Midnight Rose is the Canadian friendship horse. Both the Altrusa Chariot and Eagle Chariot are wheelchair accessible.

Santa's Pony is the outside-row replacement, Patches the middle-row replacement, and Low Bid the inside-row replacement. Scaffi is a special-edition dragon listed as adopted; the June 29, 2024 video shows it carrying a rider, and Eric confirmed the dragon's identity. Lucky Red Ringer is the dragon-shaped ring dispenser, not a riding figure. The booklet's RING MACHINE entry describes equipment, not an additional pony.

The band organ's facade was carved by Glenn Waters. The platform has oak decking, a reflective brass perimeter band, and plaques featuring Missoula's mountainside M; Steve Weiler carved the plaque mold.

Seating information

Three rows are documented by the National Carousel Association. The June 29, 2024 video supports 14 sections and counterclockwise rotation. Columbia Belle anchors seat 1A by this wiki's lead-figure convention, not a verified historical seat code. Sections follow the order figures pass someone standing at the rail; A, B and C run from outside to inside.

Matching the video figures to the NCA reference photographs gives a 40-figure reading: 37 horses, Scaffi and two chariots. Altrusa Chariot at 7A and Eagle Chariot at 14A each span A-B, leaving an inside-row horse at C. Video-derived placements are marked as best readings; Columbia Belle's 1A anchor retains its confirmed lead-figure status.

This is the arrangement observed in footage dated June 29, 2024, not a verified current survey or the opening-day layout. The sequence can be checked around 1:40-1:51, with additional revolutions showing overlapping inner figures. Each placed figure links to its section's video timestamp. Silver and the three replacement ponies remain in the inventory without placements in this reading; their absence from this chart does not establish retirement or permanent removal.

Sources

• A Community Dream: The Carousel: history and opening-day collection.
• A Carousel for Missoula: location in Caras Park.
• National Carousel Association census: three-row platform.
• NCA Missoula photo gallery: figure identities, credits and historical descriptions.
• "A Carousel For Missoula" - Missoula, MT 2024-06-29: visual reading of the platform, passing sequence and placements.
• Band organ facade and platform: decorative details.
• Booklet contents image supplied by Eric on October 24, 2026: inventory names and order. Eric identified Scaffi as a special-edition adopted dragon and subsequently confirmed it is the green riding dragon in the video.