Swetsville Zoo

Guaranteed to make anyone smile! If you have kids or are simply a kid at heart, like me, you must go see this site! This isn’t your regular zoo. You won’t see any live animals here, except maybe a few birds or squirrels in the trees nearby but they aren’t part of the exhibit.

This zoo is completely different. It’s kind of like an exterior art exhibit made entirely from recycled scrap metal parts, so if you like old rusted stuff, like I do, this is the place for you! The variety of different scrap metal art creatures and creations that you will see here is amazing. You’ll be surrounded by scrap metal art creatures from all sorts of life. Everything here is very quirky and cute. There is something here for everyone. Such as almost life size metal dinosaurs and dragons. There are gorgeous metal birds, flowers and bugs. There is a knight guarding the face of a castle, a really cool biker on his motorcycle, a beautiful metal cow nursing her calf and so much more.

One of my favorites was the fisherman who is pulling out a giant fish from the Poudre River. You’ll even see a few cartoon classics like Humpty Dumpty, Choo-Choo and Snoopy. For the musician in all of us, there is a really neat giant chime where “kids” of all ages can play their own symphony.

Jim Swets – Founder Swetsville Zoo

Jim started out as a farmer. That’s where he claims he learned how to make metal structures. In his spare time he was a volunteer firefighter. He was also an insomniac. In August of 1985 he found an interesting way to cope with his insomnia and he started welding old scrap pieces of metal together. He started building figments of his imagination. He built his first structure in August of 1985. It was a shovel beaked bird with a bicycle frame for a body. He started laying his creations out on his yard and it started to attract visitors. It wasn’t long before he had a scrap metal art hobby which quickly became a roadside attraction.

Jim never draws out any plans for any of his creations. All the plans are in his head and he somehow manages to execute each one exactly the way he imagined it. He says he starts at the hips because that is the foundation. Then he works his way up and creates the rest of the body. Most of his creations were built between 1985-1995. He slowed down dramatically when his wife Sandy got ill in 1996 but still kept going. The castle facade was built in 1997 but sadly in June of 1998, it burned down and Jim rebuilt it the following year. He keeps building. So far there are over 170 creations!

This is a free site, please donate. This site does not receive any government funding. Your donations help to improve the site and keep it clean. Dogs are allowed here, please pick up after them. There is an outhouse just after the entrance to the zoo. You can’t purchase anything on site. There is a picnic table under a giant spider made from a VW Beetle. Bring good walking shoes, plenty of water and cash for the donation box.