Owners offer to sell carousel to Coeur d’Alene

The owners of a 90-year-old carousel that used to delight children at Playland Pier near Independence Point in Coeur d’Alene say they’re willing to sell it to the city. “I think there are people in the community who are very interested in the idea because of its history,” Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem said of the 20-horse machine that twirled in Coeur d’Alene from the 1940s through the ’70s. But the city doesn’t have room in its budget. Duane Perron said the machine could be worth about $500,000. It’s been fully restored and is in storage in Hood River, Ore. It’s one of only 100 left in the world, with the Perron family owning 21 of them.