Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Chris Thompson poses with the merry-go-round he recently donated to The Dyer-Botsford House.
Ertl Playground Kids dolls ride the horses on Chris Thompson’s merry-go-round creating a connection to local Dyersville history.
Chris Thompson poses with the merry-go-round he recently donated to The Dyer-Botsford House.
Ertl Playground Kids dolls ride the horses on Chris Thompson’s merry-go-round creating a connection to local Dyersville history.
When the motor stopped running on the hand-carved miniature circus at The Dyer-Botsford House, manager Christy Deutmeyer called Chris Thompson for assistance. That decision got the circus up and running again and introduced Thompson to the museum, which he now calls the best-kept secret in Dyersville. Thompson recently donated a merry-go-round he made 30 years ago, because he felt the Dyer-Botsford house was a clean and safe place where people would enjoy viewing his creation.
Thompson has always wanted to make things. He remembers having his first shop at age six on his family farm in Lamoure, N.D. In 1963, during his senior year of high school, he built a steam engine which is still on display at the annual Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion. His most recent creation, a motorized paper steam engine, is made solely from glue and file folder material. For this man with an engineer’s mind, there’s very little downtime between completion of a project and inspiration for the next.
Thompson spent 18 years creating prototypes for Ertl Toys. The first 13 he was an independent contractor working from his shop in Guttenberg, and the last five took him into the Ertl lab. Thompson gives credit to Claire Scheibe, founder of Toy Farmer Magazine, and Dave Bell, owner of SpecCast for connecting him to the farm toy industry and his eventual move to Iowa. Thompson had worked on his family farm after finishing school and when his father decided it was time to retire and sell, the family migrated from North Dakota to Dyersville.
The original C.W. Parker carousel that impressed Thompson when he saw it in Rollag, Minn. during high school provided inspiration years later for his merry-go-round.
Thompson and a friend were meandering through a flea market when they saw a cheap, plastic chariot with two horses. They wondered if they could create a horse mold by separating the conjoined pair and filling in the backside because they were the perfect size toy horses. The idea worked and Thompson’s merry-go-round now has 22 horses molded from resin and painted by a cousin and her daughter-in-law. He’s grateful his relatives stepped in to help with the project, because, according to Thompson, the horse painting would have been the most challenging part. Thompson’s merry-go-round keeps the carousel tradition of a lead horse, with a more decorative animal identified with a flag. Ertl Playground Kids dolls ride the horses, completing the merry-go-round and offering even more whimsical fun to the viewer.
Recently, Deutmeyer was giving a tour to a couple from Minnesota. The woman was quiet as the trio made their way through the historic house and museum until they descended the stairs and Thompson’s merry-go-round came into view. The silent visitor suddenly exclaimed, “Oh wow. That’s amazing.” Thompson hopes people feel like smiling and “take away enjoyment” when they see his project in Dyersville. “People love these so much,” said Thompson whose favorite part of the project was at the end when he turned the battery-powered merry-go-round on and it actually worked.
Longtime neighbor and friend Pat Bergstrom describes Thompson as a very handy person who “likes anything that’s a challenge.” Her vacuum cleaner and blender have benefited from his gift of taking on hard-to-fix projects. “Chris is very talented, but he’s shy about telling people about his projects,” she said recently from the Dyer-Botsford House front porch on a day the friends were delivering a replica cannon made by Thompson. “Chris has been an inspiration to me,” she said with admiration, adding “everyone should come take a look.”
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