Sebastopol artist Patrick Amiot's Canadian carousel starts spinning on Canada Day

TORONTO

It’s called the Pride of Canada, and it’s Sebastopol-based folk artist Patrick Amiot’s most ambitious work: a 50-foot (diameter) carousel with 44 whimsical figures made from recycled junk.

The kinetic artwork officially launched amid great fanfare Friday in Markham, a suburb of Toronto, as part of the town’s Canada Day celebration.

Amiot and his wife, Brigitte Laurent, beamed as the first kids, parents, grandparents and even a 90-year-old woman clambered atop a moose, an ice skate, a honeybee, a trout, a Canadian Mountie and lots of other Canadian icons.

“There’s something magical about a carousel,” Amiot said as it began to turn. “It’s not just a dream anymore.”

The project began about five years ago when Amiot’s Toronto-based agent, gallery owner Alan Loch, connected the artist with The Remington Group, the Canadian developer behind Markham’s multibillion-dollar new downtown. The company was seeking an art installation that would serve as a community hub.

For several years Amiot and his crew scavenged junk, cut and welded metal, and pounded the figures into shape in a workshop just south of Sebastopol. Then Laurent painted the creations to complete the colorful marvel. The carousel had a test run in Sebastopol, then was dismantled and trucked to Markham, about 20 miles north of Toronto.

Even before its official opening, the $12 million solar-powered Pride of Canada became a sensation. Word spread Thursday on social media that the carousel was open for a free trial run. It had 2,000 riders that day, according to carousel operators who tally the numbers, with many people riding it more than once.

Amiot thanked those in Sebastopol who helped him build the carousel, from crew members to the old Barlow canning facility that gave him more than 40,000 metal lids.

Amiot and Laurent are native Canadians who moved to Sebastopol in the late 1990s and transformed Florence Street, where they live, into an outdoor art showplace.

Laurent called the carousel “a living sculpture” and was awestruck when the interactive artwork began turning.

“When we started, I didn’t think this would happen, and now it’s happening,” she said, turning toward her husband. “This is a masterpiece. It’s real.”