News and Archives

This section is for carousel news and carousel fan contributions. Please check back often to see what's new!

Current Headlines These links can disappear at any time. If they do and you want to see the article, try searching for it at news.google.com.

September, 2004

"Meyers Lake carousel has renewed life in Hartford" (Canton Repository, 9/20/04, free subscription required)

"True Exhibit of a Man" (FortWayne.com, 9/26/04)

October, 2004

"Forest Park Carousel Registers as Historic Place" (Queens Chronicle, 10/7/04)

"Donors of carousel horses eager to see them at zoo " (Seattle Post Intelligencer, 10/14/04)

"Carousel horses were destroyed in a fire" (KWQC TV website, 10/19/04)

December, 2004

"Student's design will be an inspiration" (Indianapolis Star, Online edition, Dec. 9, 2004.)

"Century-old Carousel Horse on Display" Press Enterprise (San Bernardino County), online edition. 12/19/04. (Subscription required)

January, 2005

"Carousel ends run: $200,000.00 ride likely to leave Columbus." Ledger/Enquirer, 1/9/05.

"A Carousel Ride Through Time" Albany Democrat/Herald, 1/12/05.

"Watch Hill Carousel egg to be displayed at the White House" The Westerly (RI) Sun, 1/19/05.

"Oh please, make the carousel turn again." The Tennessean, 1/24/05.

February, 2005

"Carousels make the world go round for the younger set." U-Press/Telegram, 2/11/05.

"Back to the future..as carousel & ferris wheel begin operating at the new Pike" LB Report, 2/13/05.

"Park deals, including Dog Museum, cost county, auditor says"> St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/13/05.

"Carousel project breaks ground at Sugar Sand Park" Palm Beach Post, 2/16/05.

HMD moves to new location, maps out upcoming calendar" (proposal to build new carousel as part of revitalization project) Montrose Daily Press, 2/17/05.

Ray of hope: Group looks to NT museum for help with solar-powered carrousel" Tonawanda News, 2/19/05

March 2005

"Carousel maker's ride now over" New York Daily News, 3/2/05.

"A horse of a different color: Zoo to be home to historic, hand-carved carousel horses" Journal Newspapers, 3/1/05.

"Carousel Lady" In-Forum News, 3/6/05

"Carousel Collector" KSTP TV, 3/17/2005. (Includes video).

Carousel Fan Archive

Contributions of carousel photos and anecdotes are welcome! Please email your contributions to the website moderator..

My "Lemax" friend Betty provided these lovely photos of the carousel in the Santa Rosa Mall, Mary Esther, Florida. The carver attributions were guessed by me, so don't blame Betty for any mis-labeling. But I'm pretty sure about the menagerie (non-horse) animals! Corrections are welcome! Thank you, Betty!

View of the carousel	Golden-maned Illions Palomino
PTC (?) Pony and Dentzel Rabbit	Rarely seen rearing White Tiger, probably Dentzel
Beautiful Dentzel Bengal Tiger	A perky black cowpony, possibly Muller.
A naughty Dentzel cat, running off to eat his stolen fish!	A Hippocampus, again possibly Dentzel
A closeup of that beautiful Golden-maned Palomino	One of the crowning Shields
A closeup of a Shield

Menominee Park Carousel, Oshkosh, WI
This carousel has been on-site for a number of years. Although originally operated by a private individual, it was sold to the city a few years ago as part of a package of amusement rides. It was constructed from parts of 2-3 other carousels so it's actual date of "manufacture" is not known. There are currently plans to add music OTHER than a boombox and hopefully a friends group may be organized to help with other planning and maintenance.
This lion was part of the Pride of Oshkosh Project, created for and placed temporarily next to the carousel. It was one of many such lions and is to be subsequently auctioned off to benefit the local public library, the local art center and other community projects. The lion was created from a mold of one of the lions on the library's front steps.

This Carmel jumper is a rotocast vinyl animal which was painted by ME! It was fun! First I had hubby sear off the "slip" leftover from the casting, using a torch. Then I sanded off the plastic "tags" and smoothed the rough parts. The basecoat was black Fusion spray paint and the other colors were basic craft acrylic. In order to contrast against the black, I gave my jumper a white blaze and feet, with gold mane and tail. To give his eyes some life, I just used a couple white dots as highlight against some drybrushed brown accents. His teeth got the Hollywood star whitening treatment! I also used vivid colors for the saddle, bridle and other parts of the tack to give him a festive "circus horse" look. After spraying him with a clear finish coat, I added jewels, drilled the hole for the pole and had hubby mount him on a home made wooden base. The pole is actually a wooden flagpole that I eventually plan to paint in matching colors. (Real brass poles are too expensive) I CAN'T WAIT TO DO ANOTHER ONE! While I can't claim to be any expert on painting carousel horses, here's some observations I had while doing this horse: You don't have to use "real" horse colors except maybe on the base coat. The gold mane and tail look fine. Pink horses with ribbons look stupid. It's important to observe a real horse's head before trying to paint one. Most horses nostrils are colored subtly and definitely not just a paint daub of black! I made mine pink which faded into the copper color of the muzzle (again, a fantasy color). Until I know where real horsehair tails come from, I will not use them. If they come from a live healthy horse, fine. If they come from the dogfood or glue factory, NO WAY! Eyes really aren't just dark circles against a white background. Real horses have both light brown and dark brown eyes. My horse has dark eyes. A few little light (or white) highlight dots and your horse is alive. Dry brush some lighter brown highlights immediately around the eyes on a dark horse to make the eyes "pop" a little. When a horse shows his teeth, they look really white (especially when they are going for your arm!), so don't forget to whiten those teeth. Good paint is important. I started out doing the colors in cheapie acrylic and had to "do over". Next time I'm getting the good stuff. It's hard to find Fusion paint in "natural horse" colors at my local store. I think I'll have to special order some for the next horse, but it's worth the effort. The stuff really sticks! The "feather" tack on the horse's front was tough! I finally wound up using some different shades of purple, lavendar and gold to give it some definition. The next horse is going to have natural looking feathers. Nothing sets off the hooves like gold with silver horseshoes! Don't worry about putting too many jewels on your horse. If you like lots of jewels, do it! A clear spray finish coat evens up the paint tones all over the horse. Click on the images above to see a larger version (about 300-380K).