Historic Carousel May Make Full Circle Ponies Making Rounds In Mall May Return To Cda

If painted horses could talk, the old Coeur d’Alene carousel would have quite a tale to tell.

The 20-horse machine was built in the 1920s in New York, during the golden age of carousels. It spent its middle age - the 1940s to the 1970s - entertaining kids at Playland Pier in Coeur d’Alene.

Carol Jackson Perron bought the carousel 13 years ago at an auction in Puyallup, Wash.

“Hopefully, it will go back to Coeur d’Alene,” she said. “I don’t know of any other carousel that left a town and came back so many years later.”

Perron’s son, Brad, operates nine historic carousels across the country. He’s offered to return the old Coeur d’Alene machine to Independence Point, if the community will provide a building for it.

But funding could be a stumbling block.

Members of a Coeur d’Alene citizens committee mulled legal and financial questions surrounding the proposal for 1-1/2 hours this week.

Who would pay for the building? Is the carousel a community priority? What would happen if it wasn’t profitable?

Committee members are charged with implementing a master plan for downtown’s public spaces.

“The details are the tricky part,” said Dave Walker, a Coeur d’Alene city council member who sits on the committee.

“We almost need a core group of people who really want to drive a fund-raising effort. I don’t see anyone stepping up at this time.”

The carousel is currently in a shopping mall in Reading, Pa.

“It’s probably making more money where it is now,” Carol Perron said.

But for sentimental reasons, she’d like to see it returned to Coeur d’Alene.

Carol Perron graduated from Coeur d’Alene High School in 1954.

As a youngster, she spent her summers working at Playland Pier, Coeur d’Alene’s waterfront amusement park.

She and her husband, Duane, operate a historic carousel museum in Hood River, Ore. They bought the old Coeur d’Alene carousel to keep it intact.

Wooden carousels are becoming so rare that the intricately carved horses are sold as collector’s items.

“There’s only 148 left in the world, and we lose about a half a dozen every year to auction,” Brad Perron said.

The Coeur d’Alene carousel was built by Stillman Engineering Corp. in North Tonawanda, N.Y., during the “Golden Age” of carousels.

During the early 1900s, trolley companies installed carousels at the end of their lines to generate ridership on the weekends.

The popularity of carousels died out during the cash-strapped days of the Great Depression.

Now, people view carousels as a form of American folk art, said Bette Largent, secretary of the Spokane Antique Carrousel Society.

“It’s the only form of artwork meant to be ridden,” Largent said.

Spokane is one of the best examples of a community that rallied to save its carousel, the Perrons said.

The 1909 Looff Carrousel was a fixture at Natatorium Park.

After the amusement park closed, the city of Spokane bought the wooden Carrousel and reopened it in Riverfront Park in 1975.

About 300,000 rides are given each year.

Private rentals and a gift shop helped the Carrousel generate an $80,000 profit last year, said Don Largent, group sales coordinator at Riverfront Park.

A wooden carousel in Missoula also makes a modest income.

That carousel, which opened five years ago, has been a boost to Missoula’s downtown area as well, said Theresa Cox, who is executive director of the nonprofit organization that runs it.

“We draw more visitors downtown, and more local residents come downtown because it’s here,” she said.

Brad Perron said he figures a carousel could be successful in Coeur d’Alene, too. He has talked to the citizens committee about a spot for it southeast of the Museum of North Idaho.

Since $1.50 rides wouldn’t cover the $120,000 annual operating cost, Perron said he would need extra income from private parties, concessions and a gift shop.

If the carousel leaves the mall to return to Coeur d’Alene, Perron would seek National Historic Register status for it.

That would help advertise the ride, and give it broader exposure, he said.

“Certainly there’s a lot more profit in shopping malls, but no one cares about the history, or whether it’s wood,” Brad Perron said.

“We have a real dedication to saving as many as we can, and having people enjoy them.”

But the project requires a high level of community support to be successful, he added.

In Santa Barbara, Calif., the city spent $500,000 on a building to house a historic carousel.

Members of the citizens committee are trying to gauge how deep feelings run on the carousel.

“In all the meetings I’ve been in, the carousel has floated to the top because it was historic,” said Sandi Bloem, a downtown business owner who sits on the citizens committee.

However, there are issues related to running a private business in a city park, she said. Funding is also a concern.

The money would need to come from private sources, Walker said. With a new city library in the planning stages, timing may not be right, he said.

Committee members aren’t ready to make a recommendation on the project.

“I think it’s a cool idea, but I’m not 100 percent sold myself,” Walker said.

“It would need to be city and community driven,” Bloem said.