Rare, locally made carousel could get another whirl at Canalside - Buffalo News
A rare wooden carousel carved by European immigrants in a North Tonawanda factory nearly a century ago is in storage in northeast Ohio. There are nine remaining Herschell-Spillman park-style carousels in operation, and we would love number 10 to be back home in Buffalo,” said Laurie Hauer-Laduca, who located the carousel. The carousel’s possible journey back to use in Buffalo is owed to a convergence of interests: a family’s refusal to sell the carnival ride piecemeal, a local group’s perseverence to return a locally made carousel to Buffalo, and a foundation that... The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation is offering to pay $250,000 for the local group to buy the carousel and operate it with solar power. That leaves it up to Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. There is also an approaching deadline: Buffalo Heritage Carousel, the not-for-profit that would own and operate the merry-go-round, must put down a non-returnable deposit for the carousel by July 1 or risk having it go to a private collector. Robert Gioia, Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. ’s chairman, said he would welcome the carousel, and expects the waterfront agency to make a decision by the deadline, but several issues remain to be resolved and the outcome is uncertain. Carousel enthusiasts say the chance to buy one of the last lavishly carved merry-go-rounds made in Western New York may not come. Source: www.buffalonews.com
