Six intricately carved horses pull a miniature painted wagon past meticulously constructed old-time refreshment stands — all beneath a brilliant circus canopy.
The outside walls are adorned with vintage signs sporting ads like “Pennzoil – Safe Lubrication,” “Beware of Dog,” “Coca Cola,” and “Panhandle 10 miles, Conway 19.”
Welcome to Tinkertown Museum, a zany collection of trinkets and art nestled in the sleepy East Mountains. The history of the museum is just as assorted as the exterior, said Carla Ward, widow of the late Ross Ward — the mastermind behind the Tinkertown project. She said that Ross began creating parts of the museum when he was bored in the Army. The project continued from there.
“We started building a roadside attraction that we most wanted to visit ourselves,” Ward said. “We tried to make it as interesting as possible.”
Ward said Ross left home at 18 and started painting carnival rides. He was exposed to the nomadic life at a young age and to the surrealistic environment of circuses and carnivals. These elements influenced his later work, the Tinkertown Museum, which took more than 30 years to complete.
“Ross would be in winter carnival quarters, and they would be throwing stuff away, like some old arcade machines, and he’d just haul them home and fix them,” Ward said. “The motto of the museum is, ‘We did all this while you were watching TV.’”
Throughout the museum, detailed figurines peer out from behind the glass as country classics by Willie Nelson and Gene Autry play in the background. Intricate scenes of Western towns and circuses are detailed with small, worn-out notes, adding a humorous commentary. Vintage jukeboxes and arcades beg for quarters, while sword collections and a rattlesnake longer than a pair of outstretched arms fill in extra space.
The walls are made of clear and colored glass bottles held together with cement, and the occasional rusted wagon wheel serves as a makeshift window. “For 10 years, we just collected bottles from the sides of roads, and then from our friends and neighbors,” Ward said. “There are about 53,000 bottles in the museum.”
It only costs $3 to tour the place, and the museum attracts around 20,000 visitors per year from all over the world.
“A lot of people come down thinking it’s just for kids, and they come in and they’re like, ‘Well, this isn’t really for kids at all. It’s really much more for adults,’” she said.
Ward said the museum gets plenty of business from word of mouth, the website, brochures and guidebooks that recommend it.
Visitors to the museum are often astounded and leave in awe.
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Such was the case with Timothy Mennel from Chicago.
“There are a few places scattered around the country that are kind of like this,” he said. “But this is obviously the mother ship. The detail is really incredible. It’s like walking around inside someone’s brain — you can see him thinking as he’s putting these things together.”
Ross made most of the stuff in the museum, although he bought some of the pieces overseas. The Western scenes were assembled using parts of old sewing machines, linoleum samples, parts of an antique fan, plus many other random and interesting objects. A quote at the bottom of one of the scenes says:
“This whole collection relates: everything is everything else. Ideas are everywhere — pick them like flowers.”
Tinkertown is not simply a collection of zany antiques and folk art; it is the meaning of life.
“Our message is that if you believe isomething enough, if you dream it, you can make it happen,” Ward said.
Ross died of Alzheimer’s disease nine years ago. He was 62.
Although he passed away, he still offers profound advice through the medium of Tinkertown. A plaque on the wall reads:
“Live juicy. Dream of gypsy wagons. Find snails making love. Drink sunsets. Draw out your feelings. Marry yourself. Dry your clothes in the sun. Eat mangoes naked. Stop worrying. Now. If not now, when?”
Tinkertown Museum
121 Sandia Crest Road
Sandia Park, N.M. 87047
Through October 31st
9 a.m.-6 p.m., 7 days a week
Adults $3, Seniors (62 ) $2.50, Children (4-16) $1
