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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Carrousel to get its goat


Volunteer Gary Nance helps Carrousel preservationist Bette Largent apply a coat of primer paint to an 1885 goat on Saturday in Largent's north Spokane home. Billy Bob will be added to  Spokane's Looff Carrousel in Riverfront Park. 
 (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

Billy Bob is coming to Spokane.

Thanks to the efforts of master carousel restorer Bette Largent, an 1885 hand-carved goat originally made for a carousel in New York state will soon join the menagerie on the 1909 Looff Carrousel at Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane.

After being removed from its original carousel, the goat was sold at auction in the late 1960s.

The figure was purchased by a couple who attempted a minor restoration. It was later bequeathed to the Kit Carson Carousel in Burlington, Colo. There was just one problem.

“The Burlington carousel is a PTC carousel, which means it was made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company,” Largent said. “The goat was made by the Looff company.”

The two don’t go together.

“That’s like trying to mix a Ford and a Chevy,” Largent added.

The carousel goat was traded to Bob Cherot, a restorer in Montana, who then made the piece available to Spokane.

Largent is a voice of authority when it comes to carousels. That authority came about by being, as she describes it, in the right place at the right time.

In 1991, Largent went to work in the gift shop of the Riverfront Park Carrousel pavilion. An artist, and professional antiques restorer, Largent needed a part-time job to fill in when business was slow.

When the time came to perform yearly maintenance on the horses and other animals on the Carrousel that year, the regular painter wasn’t available.

“They knew I had an art background so they asked me if I would do it,” Largent said. “And I did.”

She didn’t know it at the time, but a new career was born.

Largent threw herself into the task. When it was discovered that many of the animals were in need of restoration, again, Largent had the necessary skills.

“I had been a furniture restorer, and I knew how to work with old wood,” Largent said. “And that wood is almost 100 years old. It needs a tender touch.”

Since then, Largent has become an expert on antique carousels. She helped form the Spokane Antique Carrousel Society, and is president of the National Carousel Association.

In addition to her restoration and preservation work on the Carrousel in Spokane, Largent has participated in projects across the country and as far as Australia.

Employed by the city of Spokane as the official Carrousel restorer, Largent almost didn’t take the job.

“I didn’t know if I could do it,” she said. Her daughter, who was 11 at the time, found the perfect words.

“She sat on the edge of the bed and said, ‘You should do it. I’ll recommend you,’ ” Largent said. “She had faith in me and look what happened.”

Since late last fall, Largent and a team of volunteers that occasionally includes her now-grown daughter have been working to prepare the new goat – named Billy Bob by the Spokane Carrousel Association – to handle the rigors of use.

“The first thing you have to do is name each animal,” Largent said. “That gives them a personality.”

The next step is to evaluate the condition of the piece.

“Billy Bob was in pretty good shape, considering,” Largent said. “But when we ran a metal detector over him we found enough nails and screws to fill a box.”

After removing the nails and screws, and repairing the wood, Largent had to mend a broken horn and a broken jaw that had left the goat’s head dangerously loose.

“We had to fix a couple of his legs, and remove his stirrups,” Largent said. “But that’s pretty normal. The legs always need work because the children put their weight on them when they get on and off.”

Now, with the old paint smoothed, and with three coats of primer, Largent is almost ready to dress the goat.

Largent found traces of the original red and green paint on the goat’s blanket, but when it is repainted she plans to make the blanket plaid.

If everything goes as it should, Billy Bob will join the crew in the pavilion around St. Patrick’s Day.

Until he is needed to replace another animal, Billy Bob will be on display at the center of the Carrousel. Because the goat figure is carved in the “prancer” style, which means his front feet are lifted off the floor, Billy Bob will be the first animal that will be able to serve as an all-purpose “spare” and fill in when other animals are undergoing maintenance. The current spare horse will only fit in certain spaces.

And as the only goat on the Carrousel, Billy Bob will stand out. “Like all Looff animals, this one has a sweet face,” she said. “Looff didn’t want the children to be afraid.”

Largent expects Billy Bob to be a big hit.

“Goats are big in Spokane,” she said. “Everybody loves the garbage goat don’t they?”