# We're getting a CAROUSEL! (Pic heavy!)



## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

More pics:


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

You are going to love it! I have been riding this carousel at the PNE in Vancouver since I was 3


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

How cool! That would look awesome in my backyard. LOL


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## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

JCnGrace said:


> How cool! That would look awesome in my backyard. LOL


Mine too! Just wish I had a place to keep it and a few extra million $ to buy and maintain it...:lol:


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Wow. It is beautiful. Was it restored or is it all original? The detail is superb.

And Waresbare...You are so not a grandma. Lol. It can't be true. ;-)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

It's been restored. Took ten years to restore the horses to museum quality.

The frame and mechanical parts are brand new. They never got the original frame, just the horses and a few odd pieces, so it's a combination of old meets new. But the horses are 104 years old. 

It's exquisite!


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Very cool!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Tack Collector (Nov 10, 2009)

Very interesting! Those horses are gorgeous. I'm old enough to remember (as a little kid, like kindergarten - 1st grade) when the traveling carnivals had those old carousels and hauled 'em around like an old suitcase. They had the band instrument that played the weird old songs, complete with a mechanical snare drum. And had mirrors and hand painted scenes and whatever on them. I remember seeing some that had elaborate jeweled horses, and a buckskin like that picture. Those old carousels were just considered hopelessly outdated little-kids' rides by that time. I think the carnivals only carted them around because the oldsters and the little kids would ride them. The shafts and gears and other mechanicals were always coated with mounds of caked old black grease, and you could smell the grease in hot weather. LOL

Cascade Park in New Castle (PA) had a wooden carousel house that enclosed the carousel. It was one of the few places we could dash into whenever the thunderstorms came. hehe Or to get out of the hot sun for a bit. That park still has the carousel house, but the carousel was dismantled and sold.

Now that I think about it, the trolley parks were probably where those old carousels came from, since trolley parks were popular in early 20th Century. Then a lot of those went out of business by WWII or sooner, and probably the carousels were cheap handmedowns acquired by the traveling carnivals.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Where is it being set up? Is it at a park?

I adore carousels.


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## Tack Collector (Nov 10, 2009)

"band organ" is what those were called

I recall seeing lots that looked like this:
North Tonawanda Style 198 | AntiqueCarousels.com

and a bunch of them that must have been Wurlitzers:
Wurlitzer 153 Carousel Band Organ | AntiqueCarousels.com

Here's a 1914 portable carousel that looks like many that I rode as a kid, but they were pretty beat-up and repainted a few times by then. But they had horses, sometimes lions and zebras and other fantasy animals, and a couple of those 2-bench ornate chariot things.








PTC #28 Rare 1914 Portable Carousel

I grew up in NW PA, and these towns and their inhabitants had their heyday in the maybe the 1870s or 1880s into the 1970s, and there is/was a lot of old stuff that was never modernized or town down until the economic decline of the '80s. We had very old amusement parks that started as trolley parks or steamboat excursion parks or something, back in late 19th and early 20th century.


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

*sigh* I have always wanted my own carousel horse.


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## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

tinyliny said:


> Where is it being set up? Is it at a park?
> 
> I adore carousels.


It's in the Tri-Cities: The Southridge Sports and Events Center in Kennewick, Washington. It's called the Carousel of Dreams. If you ever come over here to this side of the mountains Tiny, don't miss this! Should be up and running by summer.


Here's more pics I took today, after the horses are pretty much all installed:


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## GamingGrrl (Jan 16, 2013)

Beautiful! I love the cougar and husky too, those are great touches.

I have tons of great memories of riding the carousel at the Puyallup fair when I was a kid. I'm not much of a carnival or ride person, but I'll always appreciate the beauty of carousels.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

GamingGrrl said:


> Beautiful! I love the cougar and husky too, those are great touches.
> 
> I have tons of great memories of riding the carousel at the Puyallup fair when I was a kid. I'm not much of a carnival or ride person, but I'll always appreciate the beauty of carousels.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Oh my gosh, me too! The Puyallup Fair carousel is one I've ridden since early childhood! I know every horse on that one.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

I have always wanted a prancer


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## Tack Collector (Nov 10, 2009)

Schenley Park in Pittsburgh apparently has one. I guess I just never paid attention. It's on the small side, though.
Crews Work To Assemble Schenley Plaza Carousel Â« CBS Pittsburgh


















They got that one in 2006. The original one:


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## Tack Collector (Nov 10, 2009)

Google "Kennywood carousel," too. The one at Kennywood amusement park. Look at images.










It's a Denzel, which I guess had a heavy German influence and produced some gorgeous carousels.


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## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

Dentzel carvings are very beautiful, but they are too similar for my taste. I mean, Dentzel only had a certain number of styles for his horses (the 'Arabian', the 'Thoroughbred' the 'Mare', etc.) and the only real differences in them were manes, leg positions, and tack. Other than that, they are all basically the same looking.

I like ones where no two horses look alike. But that's just me.


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## starsnosigns (Sep 29, 2013)

it looks amazing...take lots of pics with a flash on or when there's lots of sunlight so that you have beautiful pics


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## Red Gate Farm (Aug 28, 2011)

A little info on the traditional styles of carousel horses.

_Jumper - _describes a horse/figure that has all four feet off the carousel platform. Jumpers are normally the 'moving' horses on a carousel (either suspended from the overhead or attached to a mechanism from underneath). Another term sometimes used for a horse with all four feet off the platform is _galloper_. 



_Prancer - _describes a carousel horse/animal that has the two back feet on the platform, and two front feet in the air. Prancers would most often be found on the outside row of a carousel, though they were not as common as the jumpers or standers. 



_Stander - _describes a horse/animal that has either three or all four feet touching the platform. Outside-row animals are often standers which do not move up and down. 



_Stargazer - _describes a head position where the nose is pointing skyward - towards the stars. 

How many can you identify on your carousel?


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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

Thank you for the pictures I love carousel there are just fun to see and listen to are the animal made of wood I saw on that was made of wood


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

squirrelfood said:


> *sigh* I have always wanted my own carousel horse.


Oh, me too! We had a big one in San Diego. As an adult, I love the mix of animals, but as a kid I could never see any point to any animals other than horses. And no blue or green horses either: blacks, bays, chestnuts, grays, pintos, palominos... but no rainbows, please. And, yes, my sisters and I named every one.


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## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

Red Gate Farm said:


> A little info on the traditional styles of carousel horses.
> 
> _Jumper - _describes a horse/figure that has all four feet off the carousel platform. Jumpers are normally the 'moving' horses on a carousel (either suspended from the overhead or attached to a mechanism from underneath). Another term sometimes used for a horse with all four feet off the platform is _galloper_.
> 
> ...


There is a mix of standers and jumpers. Most of the standers are on the outer row, with the exception of the two little ponies on the insides of the chariots (which haven't yet been installed). There are no prancers on this carousel.

There are a lot of stargazers! I've always liked them so that alone should make me happy, LOL!


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## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

Beautiful! Carrousels are still my very favorite!


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## Tack Collector (Nov 10, 2009)

Found a picture. Kennywood's (Pittsburgh, PA) carousel from 1927, restored. 
In 1926, William Dentzel manufactured the current hand-carved Merry-Go-Round, Pic from WTAE.









More Kennywood photos, then and now: http://www.wtae.com/news/-/9681432/15609058/-/99o4onz/-/index.html#ixzz35lBeeSC0


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## GlassPlatypus (May 25, 2012)

Here's an update: it's taken this side of forever, but we finally had the grand opening for the carousel a few days ago. Ain't she a beauty??? 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnLTCgXUTak 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gPtImAnrgI


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## Cielo Notturno (Sep 12, 2013)

How cool 

I've never seen an indoor carousel, but I guess it's best to keep those precious old horses as protected as possible

They really are awesome


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

That is beautiful!

I've always loved carousels, too. As a kid I knew where everyone was located in the Detroit metro area, and the workers all knew me by name. I'd stand and watch for long periods of time and the guys would let me ride once in a while. 

The Indianapolis Children's Museum has a wonderful one indoors, too.

Carousel Wishes and Dreams | The Children's Museum of Indianapolis


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## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

Majority of the carvers of these beauties, worked in shipbuilding trades, and carved during down time in winter, and many had worked carving intricate pieces for churches too. And most were immigrants, and had done the same in Europe countries they came from.

European carousels were very uniform in carvings. It was only here in America that you saw such magnificent animals, the freedom to follow one's artistic vision allowed some of the most wonderful carvings ever.

And there were 3 distinct types of American carousels too.

The Coney Island style, the Philadelphia style and the County Fair style.

More about them here in this link. Introduction To Carousel Art: American Antiques | American folk art | carousel horse

Carousel Facts

Lovely article here..Fantasy Island's Carousel


And Tobin Fraley had a beautiful book about carousels, that I used for research for thesis paper once.


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## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

OH look at this link!


National Carousel Association - Major Carousel Builders and Carvers, by Brian Morgan (Page 1 of 3)


OHHHH....this link has lovely section on Looff.


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