Members of the Haber family climbed aboard Estes Park’s newest attraction Friday morning, taking the inaugural spin on a carousel built where their family’s century-old building once stood.
The ride marked a symbolic transition for the West Elkhorn Avenue property, where the Haber Building housed generations of downtown businesses before it was demolished last fall. The site is now home to a carousel pavilion adjoining The Stanley Chocolate Factory.
The large windows facing West Elkhorn Avenue were opened as soft calliope music drifted out, inviting visitors to come in for a free ride during Friday’s soft opening.
The 28-foot, vintage-style carousel was custom-made for The Stanley Chocolate Factory by Chance Rides of Wichita, Kansas, at a cost of more than $1 million, said John Cullen, the developer behind the European-style chocolate emporium and indoor attraction.
According to an interview with company spokesperson Travis Lane, a project management director for Chance Rides, the firm has built more than 200 of the spinning amusement rides during its 65-year history. Lane was in Estes to oversee the carousel’s installation.
“Eighteen artists spent four months on every animal,” Cullen said, pointing to the details on the menagerie, which includes real antlers on the deer figure.
Details throughout the 6,500-square-foot pavilion include replica balusters designed by Flora Stanley for the couple’s home and hotel. Each of the four spindle patterns, read from left to right, represents one of the four seasons.
A three-panel stained glass window installation depicts the Rocky Mountains, the Big Thompson and Fall Rivers, and one of the 31 named waterfalls in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Each of the 18 animals in the carousel’s menagerie was hand-painted. The deer’s antlers are real antlers. Enormous Venetian glass chandeliers hang over the grand hall, and two balconies provide event space for parties. A stained-glass ceiling insert in chocolate colors and a chocolate colored pattern carpet covers the stairways
The attraction is the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar addition to the chocolate factory, which occupies the extensively renovated 1909 building that originally housed the Presbyterian Church of Estes Park. The church later became the Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies and, eventually, the Old Church Shops.
The carousel pavilion expands the site east onto the former Haber property, bringing a new attraction to a downtown parcel that has been part of Estes Park’s commercial history for more than a hundred years.
A century of downtown businesses
The Haber Building was constructed before 1920 between what is now Simply Christmas and The Stanley Chocolate Factory. Although it appeared from the street to be three separate storefronts, the connected structure became home to an eclectic succession of Estes Park businesses.
The National Park Outfitting Co. & Taxidermy Museum operated there as early as 1919. R.L. Brown’s dry-cleaning business followed in the 1920s, and Estes Park Shoe Repair occupied part of the building in the 1930s.
From the 1950s through the 1970s, tenants included The Mountaineer Shop, Heraldics Research, The Candy Box, and Blake Trading. More recently, the building housed Mocha Angelos, Craftsmen in Leather, Gold Elements, and The Estes Paw Co.
Its long commercial life ended last fall when crews from High Plains Excavation began dismantling the structure.
For three days, an orange Case CX145D excavator bit into the walls, roof, and storefronts. Jon “Hippy” Smith of High Plains Excavation watched each move, repeatedly circling the site to monitor the building as it came down.
The demolition revealed charred rafters above the center storefront, evidence of an earlier fire concealed during previous repairs. Engineers said the damage compromised the building’s integrity.
Still, Smith said the biggest surprise was that demolition produced no major surprises.
As the front wall fell and the work neared completion, Smith summed up the operation.
“It’s down and nobody got hurt,” he said with a sigh of relief. “That’s what you call a perfect takedown.”
The debris was cleared before Estes Park’s annual downtown Halloween celebration, and construction on what would become the carousel pavilion began on the addition before Thanksgiving.
Building from the foundation up
The Haber Building was not the first aging structure on the property to present engineering challenges.
After Cullen purchased the Old Church Shops in 2022 and began converting the former church into The Stanley Chocolate Factory, engineers discovered that the historic sanctuary lacked a foundation capable of meeting current building standards or supporting the building for another 50 years.
Crews excavated beneath the building to construct a new foundation. They installed steel piers and added a 90-foot steel beam to support the occupancy load. Sections of the interior ceiling were raised by 5 feet.
Cullen said he spent more on steel for the renovation than he paid for the property.
The work also brought the building into compliance with modern accessibility and safety standards. The addition includes entrances from both Elkhorn Avenue and Cleave Street and a new entrance area designed to introduce visitors to the carousel pavilion.
The carousel building was estimated to cost more than $4 million, bringing Cullen’s investment in The Stanley Chocolate Factory project to roughly $30 million.
“There’s not that much money in a carousel in terms of revenue or profit,” Cullen said during construction. “But in terms of a draw for this town, it will fundamentally shift things.”
A new chapter for the old church
The Stanley Chocolate Factory opened Nov. 28, 2025, after construction, equipment deliveries, and health inspections.
The renovated building houses a mercantile, the Steamers Cafe, event spaces, and a commercial chocolate kitchen that offers hands-on candy-making experiences, chocolate and wine tastings, and sip-and-paint classes.
The design combines restored architectural elements with theatrical additions, including Venetian chandeliers, a toy train, floating hot-air balloons, and a life-size animatronic moose.
The carousel adds a family-oriented experience to the former church property and fulfills a major part of Cullen’s vision to create an attraction that elevates the downtown shopping experience.
In April, Cullen sold the West Elkhorn Avenue property for $24.875 million to Tebo Estes LLC, owned by Boulder developer Stephen Tebo. Cullen retained ownership of The Stanley Chocolate Factory business and leased the property back for 25 years.
Looking ahead, the community should not be surprised if the two developers have additional ideas in the planning process.
On Friday, The Stanley Chocolate Factory Carousel project came full circle as members of the family connected to the property’s past took the first ride on an attraction created for its future.
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