Skip to Main Content

Bills Swets.
Bills Swets, creator of the Swetsville Zoo.

Folk Art: Swetsville Zoo (Closed)

Field review by the editors.

Fort Collins, Colorado

Bill Swets used to be a farmer. Now he's a zookeeper -- except that his zoo has no living creatures. The animals in the "Swetsville Zoo" were all built by Bill -- from car parts, farm machinery, and scrap metal.

Bill is a soft spoken man with a ready smile, and totally self-trained when it comes to his creative pursuits. "To be a farmer, you've got to be able to fabricate metal," he tells us. He is hard of hearing these days, but still hard at work. When we arrived he was up on a farm building roof, wrestling with a repair.

Heavy Metal Band.
Heavy Metal Band.

Bill started creating metal creatures in 1985 -- a shovel-beaked bird with bicycle frame body, "just a hobby that became more than just a little."

"I started putting them out in the yard, and people stopped to see. It kept growing and growing..." After a couple of years Bill numbered his huge collection of sculptures. The self-guided tour sheet lists 43; now there are over 160.

The stubby yellow and white turrets and drawbridge of a "castle," the Swets' home, stand near the entrance to the Zoo. Most of the zoo is arranged along a winding wooded path around the property.

There are little, bread machine-sized imps standing next to large mechanical contraptions -- cartoon train engines, towering dinosaurs and futuristic spaceship vehicles. A bright red motorcycle equipped with jet propulsion looks like it could be taken out for a spin.

Spider Picnic Table.

Though the Zoo doesn't quite surpass the other-worldliness of the Forevertron, or the scale of some roadside scrap metal dinosaurs we've seen, Bill's unique comic sense is pervasive.

Most of the sculptures convey his admittedly "twisted" humor -- a metal golfer aided by a dinosaur caddy, a hitchhiking creature holding a boombox to his ear with a prisoner's ball and chain on his ankle.

"It's all built in my head before I even start. Usually it comes out pretty close to what I had in mind."

A few of Bill's sculptures comment on political or current events -- a Monica Lewinsky reference or the first Gulf War. There were no George Bush sculptures when we visited. At the time, Bill said the Bush administration was "Too new."

Rocketcycle.

Most of the sculptures were created between 1985 and 1995. Bill admits to slowing down in the new creature department when his wife Sandy became ill in 1996. "We went through some rough times. I had my wife in the Mayo clinic, and I dropped out of the work for a while."

The Swetsville Zoo has endured other trials as well. Bill built the castle facade in 1997, then "it burnt down in June of 1998, so I rebuilt it." A flood from the Poudre River took its toll in the area, but the zoo held on. A mini-train ride that used to travel among the sculptures has been removed.

We asked about the other collection of folk art at Swetsville -- a series of weird alien dioramas, "The Bungled Jungle," in several rooms. They were created by good friends of the Swets. "Pat Landrith and Susan Montano -- they lived here for 12-15 years. They moved to Salida some years back. That's their living -- they go around the country and sell their art."

Dinosaur sculpture.

Bill climbs into his Autosaurus II -- a drivable half-animal, half-machine with the 351 Ford engine in it. When his wife heard him rev the engine, she came out of the house and waved. In the back of the Autosaurus is another creature, ready for installation.

And Bill has more ideas for sculptures. "Now I'm in a better frame of mind."

Folk Art: Swetsville Zoo

Directions:
At Timnath, I-25 Exit 265, south of Ft. Collins on Harmony Road east, right by side of highway.
Hours:
Closed Sep. 2022
Status:
Closed

More Quirky Attractions in Colorado

Stories, reports and tips on tourist attractions and odd sights in Colorado.

Explore Thousands of Unique Roadside Landmarks!

Strange and amusing destinations in the US and Canada are our specialty. Start here.
Use RoadsideAmerica.com's Attraction Maps to plan your next road trip.

My Sights

My Sights on Roadside America

Save Cool Vacation Destinations! ...Try My Sights

Mobile Apps

Roadside America app: iPhone, iPad Roadside America app for iPhone, iPad. On-route maps, 1,000s of photos, special research targets! ...More

Roadside Presidents app: iPhone, iPad Roadside Presidents app for iPhone, iPad. POTUS landmarks, oddities. ...More

Colorado Latest Tips and Stories

Latest Visitor Tips

Sight of the Week

Sight of the Week

Easter Island Moai in America (Mar 25-31, 2024)

SotW Archive

USA and Canada Tips and Stories

More Sightings

Favorite Quirky City Sights