1920s Carousel
This historic carousel is at the heart of the 1920s Midway. The Foundation's carousel is replica of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) #40 carousel that Johnny Jones, an operator of the original Edmonton Exhibition, brought to Edmonton during the 1920s. Like PTC #40, our carousel is a three-row machine that holds 32 horses, 2 chariots, 12 rounding boards, and 12 upper and lower panels. The carousel is housed in a pavilion.
Each horse on the carousel is hand-carved and hand-painted in an historic fashion. In the beginning, some members of the 1920s Midway committee visited Montana in July of 2000, at their own expense, to meet with a skilled carousel carver, Mr. Bob Cherot. While there, they also learned how to paint carousel horses from Ms. Bette Largent - a renowned painter and restorationist.
View our finished carousel below (click photos to enlarge).
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Since 2000, we have held three carving workshops and two painting workshops locally at no cost to the participants. It took over 150 volunteer carvers and painters approximately 50,000 hours to create our delightful carousel horses and the decorative facades.
Chuck Kaparich of Missoula, Montana built the mechanism for our carousel. Chuck is an experienced carousel horse carver as well as mechanism supplier.
Our
beautiful pavilion. It is approximately 70 feet in diameter, and has roll-up
glass doors. It was also designed with the Park's noise bylaws in mind.
On November 10, 2003, we lost one of our carousel project's hardest working volunteers, Gus Buysen. Gus was one of the instigators of the Carousel - proving, by carving a horse himself, that volunteers could make this happen. He gave us his time, wisdom, strength, experience and laughter. Thank you Gus.
On October 12, 2005, we lost another volunteer, Bob Young. Bob not only carved and painted a horse with partner Al Sushynski, but he provided advice regarding all aspects of the project - especially the parts about leaving a legacy in print. Pelt is his legacy. Thank you Bob.
We would like to express our most sincere thanks to those groups and individuals that have played an important role in ensuring the success of our carousel project - especially Alberta Job Corps. Bob Cherot, Chuck Kaparich, Bette Largent, the staff and students of St. Joseph's High School, Bert Wassing and photographer Jan Berle of Shutterworks.
The replication of the 1920s Carousel cost an estimated $.85 million.
Click here to donate to this project.
Click here for info. on sponsoring
a component of the carousel.