Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Forest Park carousel may not spin this summer

From the Daily News:

For the first time in 20 years, the historic Forest Park Carousel may sit out the summer.

The Parks Department needs someone to operate the hand-carved wooden carousel, which dates back to 1903. But so far, no one has stepped forward.

The current concessionaire, New York One LLC, is letting its contract expire. No one responded to the previous request for proposals issued by the Parks Department several months ago.

The agency has issued another request, due April 20.

Local residents and officials are worried the carousel, a rare jewel according to aficionados, will deteriorate.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I am sorry to hear of this. My father, Victor Christ-Janer (who was an architect) was responsible for the re-design of the housing and active in the restoration in the early 70's.

At one point when my sister and I were young kids, he had bought two carousel horses which he then restored. Along the way, for fun, he devised a plan to actually hang them from our living room ceiling. He anchored them in such a way that they could hold our weight. We spent many hours in play on these beautiful works of art which swung to and fro. Needless to say, they were many a child’s dream and a conversation starter for all who visited our home.

I certainly hope it will be picked up again and back on track for children to enjoy this summer. He would want that and would love it that it is still in operation.

Thanks for blogging this.

Katherine Christ-Janer