MEMPHIS. Tenn. — It won’t be long before the Grand Carousel is turning once again, but at a new home at the Children’s Museum of Memphis.
It’s been ten years since the carousel’s magnificent horses stopped galloping.
They’ll soon come back alive once more, but only after a lot of money and “tender loving care.”
It could cost well over $1 million for the restoration.
The Children’s Museum leased the carousel from City and said they would raise the funds needed to restore the carousel and build a new facility for it on the Museum grounds.
The project will take two years, but fans of the carousel agreed it’s worth the wait.
It was 1923 when children and grownups alike started taking a spin on the grand carousel, first at the Mid-South Fairgrounds and till 2005 at Libertyland in Midtown.
After being dismantled and put in storage for years, the carousel’s majestic horses will soon be stepping out in style again.
“It’s never had a complete restoration. Brought back to exactly the way it was in 1923, fresh from the factory when it arrived in Memphis,” said Jimmy Rout, III, Co-Chairman of The Carousel Committee for Memphis.
The Children’s Museum of Memphis was granted a lease for the carousel and is having the hand-carved horses and all the carousel’s parts shipped to Marion, Ohio.
That’s where Todd Goings will work his restoration magic.
Goings said he can’t wait to get started on the flamboyant horse which was the promotional image for the ride while it was operating at Libertyland.
“I would imagine there’s a little more detail that we can’t see because there’s so many layers of paint in this area up here. So once that paint comes off, and we put the new paint on there, we’ll be able to get a little more detail out of all of this. Which will be pretty striking when it’s all done,” said Goings.
Workers have been carefully moving the carousel from storage trailers to “road worthy” FEDEX trucks for the long trip.
The carousel restoration project is a dream come true for Florence Leffler, a former Memphis City Councilwoman and Mid-South Fair board member.
“It’s not just a thing for the children to enjoy. It’s a real work of art, and that was the reason that some of us were so hopeful that it would be saved. And so elated now that it is being saved,” she said.
News Channel 3 is the only TV station that will have exclusive access to the restoration process for the next two years.
So we’ll be able to bring you all the updates.
