The process of carving a carousel animal is a long one. The museum volunteers create at least one new animal a year to demonstrate this process and as a fund raiser. They begin building the "body block" during the winter. Carving begins in the spring with the goal of completing the animal during the summer. More than 500 hours of hand-carving will go into the animal before it is ready for paint. The museum’s artist will hand-paint the animal using historic brush techniques. The Raffle Horse benefits the museum’s education department and other programming within the organization. Tickets can be purchased in the gift shop, by phone, or mail.

This program also allows our carvers to be available on the museum floor during museum operating hours since much of the Raffle Horse work is completed in the main floor of the gallery studio.

Click here for a Carving Process photo presentation.