With land for sale, Swetsville Zoo creator unsure of sculpture park’s fate
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The creator of the beloved sculpture park is unsure of its future, but hopes his creations can stick around.
Erin Udell, erinudell@coloradoan.com
With the Poudre River rushing in front of him and Harmony Road traffic buzzing at his side, Bill Swets ambled toward Buzzard George Thursday afternoon.
The little bird — crafted with bike fork legs, a garden shovel body and giant amber eyes fashioned out of plastic light reflectors — stands just over two feet tall.
Compared to the behemoth metal T-Rex towering over him and the other giant dinosaur sculptures that flank a snaking, nearby path on Swets’ east Fort Collins property, George is almost easy to miss.
But in August 1985, when Swets was looking to blow off steam after a late-night volunteer firefighter call in neighboring Timnath, Buzzard George was welded together with scrap metal and spare parts, kicking off a 34-year hobby and a beloved Northern Colorado tradition.
Since that night in 1985, Swets, now 78, has welded roughly 180 metal sculptures — from whimsical creatures and towering wildflowers to shiny spaceships and a jean-clad minion. The menagerie of metal creations make up what is known as “The Swetsville Zoo,” a whimsical roadside attraction that has delighted generations in Northern Colorado.
But as development balloons adjacent to the zoo along Harmony Road near Interstate 25, Swets recently listed the 36-acre swath of land for sale. The $10.5 million listing marks the core property’s first time on the market since Swets’ parents purchased it in 1942.
“It’s been in the back of my mind for a number of years, and then two months ago I finally made up my mind that this is it, you know?” Swets said.
Once surrounded by other rural farmland, the Swets property is now encircled by newer developments like a Walmart and Costco store.
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As Swets and his partner Diane Tribble, 76, weaved through the sculptures Thursday, 62-year-old Charmaine Verbeek, of Thornton, stopped the couple to thank Swets for starting the zoo.
Verbeek said she and her husband used to drive their son up to see the sculptures as a little boy. He’s now 20 and studying at the Colorado School of Mines, Verbeek said. When she heard the Swetsville Zoo was for sale, she wanted to drive her young grandsons, ages 4 and 2, up from Denver to see it.
“I was telling them you’ll never see something this unique again,” Verbeek said.
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Walking hand-in-hand with Tribble Thursday, Swets answered questions about his life on the land. He talked about how his parents brought him and his older brother there when Swets was just 10 months old, and how he grew up in its still-standing two-bedroom farmhouse.
He pointed out creations with interesting backstories, from Buzzard George to the 40-foot “dream machine” — a Denver bus Swets rebuilt as a motor home for he and his late wife, Sandy, to travel in.
Their first trip in it would be to the Mayo Clinic in 1996, where Sandy was given only a few years to live as complications from a back surgery in the 1970s worsened her health, Swets said.
She would go on to live another 14 years, and they put 50,000 miles on the dream machine before Sandy died in 2010, Swets said.
Her voice can still be heard greeting people on Swets’ answering machine message and her memory is kept alive in many of the sculptures her husband created, especially the sprigs of giant welded wildflowers near the property’s entrance.
“Sandy loved flowers,” Tribble said.
“We had a honeymoon that lasted 51 years and two days,” Swets said, adding that he met Tribble seven years later at the south Texas mobile home park he owns and spends his winters at.
“And now I’m on my second honeymoon for a year and a half,” he said.
Story continues after the gallery
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As for leaving the only home he’s known, Swets said he’s still unsure what that will feel like once a sale goes through.
“We’re talking my whole life here,” Swets said. “I don’t know. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
Want to visit the Swetsville Zoo?
The zoo is located at 4801 E. Harmony Road and is open every day during daylight hours. It can be accessed off of Harmony Road and, while it’s free, donations are accepted.
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