Swetsville Zoo
Swetsville Zoo By: Becky Hutchens
Bill Swets, a man that hasn't had a single art lesson in his life, has created around 150 strange sculptures and is still making them. From ants to alien space ships, Bill has made what is called the Swetsville Zoo.
It all started in 1985 when Bill saw a welded bird in his neighbor's yard and wanted to make one. While building the bird, he found it enjoyable and wanted to build more. This is what started the Swetsville Zoo.
Where does Mr. Swets get his ideas for the sculptures? He gets some ideas from comic strips, children's picture books, and magazines. Bill uses farm equipment parts, car and truck parts, tubing, and anything else he can find.
Bill usually has the parts he needs on hand, but he also gets different parcels from scrap yards. Bill can also rely on his neighbors to save things for him.
The sculptures have nicknames and scientific names, both. One sculpture's scientific name is Cow. The nickname is Swets' Sweetie. Bone Shaker is the nickname, with, Bicycle, as the scientific name. There are many funny names and interesting things the animals (sculptures) do. Swets' Sweetie, doesn't give much milk. Bone Shaker, displays plants.
One figure's nickname is Mini Taj. This sculpture is actually Bill's house! The house is made of two tenant houses, fuel and hot water tanks, and a bus.
These amazing figures aren't only at the zoo. One sculpture is going to a new school. Another, is at the Discovery Center Museum in Ft Collins.
The Swetsville Zoo is an awesome place!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Miller, Del and Elsie Fisher. Timnath . Ft Collins Columbine Club, 1996.
Swets, Bill. Personal interveiw. 8 May 2002.
About Bill Swets by: Kari Myers
Mr. Swets went to school at Timnath Elementary, but he went to school after the fire. In his class he only had 12 people and he got lunch for free because he washed dishes. For lunch they had double decker hamburgers, steak, and fish sandwiches. When he was in high school he wanted to play football but they would not let him play because he kept on passing out. Then they figured out that he had a bad heart.
He worked on a dairy farm for 38 years, and he and his brother were firemen for 22 years. His farther past away in 1969. Bill started working on the zoo in 1985. His first sculpture took at least one day. His biggest sculpture took about one or two weeks to make. He started making the castle building in 1959.
In an average month he has about 15,000-20,000 people visit the zoo. Visitors come from schools or people who are just driving by and see his work. So if you ever drive by the Swetsville zoo stop by and take a look at his work.
If you want to find out more about Bill Swets then you can look on the Web or you can look in the Larimer County History Book. If you want to learn about the zoo then you can look in the Timnath History book and in the Kerry Tales a picture book. If you are in Timnath and you want to go to the Swetsville zoo, you need to go 1/2 a mile south from the school. Then you turn west until you see a building that looks like a castle on the left side of the rode. That's the
The History Of The Balloon Bomb On The Swets Farm By: Laurie Yoder
Bill Swets was only 4 years old when the balloon bomb hit the field, a hundred yards from the farm house. Jack and Bill were very scared when they found the bomb. However Bill remembers his brother Jack running into their farmhouse, frightened by an explosion that had carved a crater in a field only a hundred yards away. The resulting fire formed thick, black smoke. Jack and his father, John, had been working on machinery in a shed when they heard the explosion. In fact, the balloon bomb crater was about a foot wide, but nearly 4 feet deep. Other canisters were found nearby, so John Swets called the sheriff.
But it wouldn't have mattered much; The Swets family didn't know what had caused the explosion - and they certainly didn't know at the time they'd been bombed by the Japanese. The balloon bomb hit the Swets farm on March 19, 1945.
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