Greenport carousel to spin again on Saturday
Its aging horses are being attended to, its tired innards have been replaced and Greenport’s storied carousel is scheduled to spin again this weekend.
“The carousel is a hundred years old, and it was time to do some significant work,” said Mayor Kevin Stuessi in an interview. “We’re thrilled to be able to reopen it.”
The Mitchell Park centerpiece has been out of commission since last fall, when various components began to fail. Since then, it’s been almost completely taken apart and rebuilt.
“It’s ready to run,” Doug Jacobs, the village’s electrical supervisor, said the other day as he put the finishing touches on the lights that bring the ride to life at night.
The problems began when one of the three dozen horses jumped off its moorings. The damaged horse exposed other mechanical issues — among them, the need for new bearings and repairs to the spoke-like spires under the roof.
The repairs were done by North Fork Welding and by WRF Designs, a carousel restoration firm based in Connecticut. Once the work was completed, tests were performed before state safety inspectors signed off. The tests checked the stability of the new workings, explained Dave Abatelli, a member of the carousel committee. They made sure the ride is “not wobbly, much more steady,” he said.
The horses themselves are of several vintages and composition — wood, metal and fiberglass. One of the herd has had a new paint job, and will serve as a “showcase horse” — viewable, but not rideable. The rest will be spiffed up as time and fundraising permits. Once all have been repainted, all will be rideable once more.
The carousel’s origin story begins around 1920 in North Tonawanda, N.Y. It was built by Herschell-Spillman Co., a well-known manufacturer of carnival rides. The carousel was intended to be portable, traveling from one celebration to another, which it did until Grumman Corp. bought it in the 1950s for use at company picnics and the like at its facility in Calverton. It was gifted to Greenport 25 years ago.
The reopening celebration will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, complete with ribbon-cutting and a crowd of Greenport school kids to salute the occasion.
