The Building of Our Carousel
NORTH BAY’S CARVERS OFF TO THE RACES
Group shot of some of the 350 Volunteers that built the Carousel with Edna Scott and Rod Johnston in centre.
Photo by Ed Eng from Heritage Carousel Book
In the summer of 1999, the children of North Bay were enjoying riding on the Heritage Railway in the city’s waterfront park. Barry Jacobs, a volunteer with the railway, decided that the community needed another attraction. He suggested to Rod Johnston, chair of the company, that they buy a carousel.
Rod loved the idea and went to Edna Scott, a collector of antique carousel horses, for advice. This dynamic trio convinced the whole town to join them in making a carousel!
Barry’s job was to adopt out the horses and other components to fund the carousel. Within 4 months, all 33 horses were adopted. Rod was to secure funding from all three levels of government. Edna’s job was to design the carousel, figure out a way to get the horses carved, and convince local artists to volunteer hundreds of hours to paint the horses and all other carousel parts.
Professional carousel designer/maker, Chuck Kaparich of Montana, carved 28 of the 33 horses and taught a weeklong workshop to locals on how to create their own.
Before the project was finished, nine horses (including some spares) were carved by members of the Woodcarvers club, whose previous experience had been limited to decoys. Meanwhile, the artists trained by Chuck Kaparich formed teams to train others.
The “rounding boards” and other panels were adorned with original art reflecting life in North Bay. Two interior doors showed characters from the comic “For Better or For Worse”, painted by Lynn Johnston, then a citizen of North Bay.
More than 350 volunteers dedicated three years to the Carousel, which began operation on July 1, 2002—an instant success with residents and visitors.
As if creating one carousel was not enough, volunteers took on the task of creating a second, one-of-a-kind Winter Wonderland carousel. This was designed by Edna Scott, carved by North Bay Carousel Carvers, and painted by local artists. This smaller carousel has a Christmas theme, with Santa’s sleigh and comfy chair, surrounded by all the animals in Canada’s boreal forest. This second carousel opened in July of 2005.
Adapted from an article in The Carousel News & Trader written by Pat Stamp
Photo of Horse Painted by Silver Birches Students
Courtesy of Postmedia, from the Nugget
Did You Know…
The Hippocampus on the Winter Wonderland Carousel, a half horse and half f ish, was originally going to be called the Trout Lake Monster. Instead, they renamed it to the Trout Lake Horse.
When constructing the Winter Wonderland Carousel, they had difficulty finding the best animals due to their heavy weight.
There is a North Bay Heritage Carousel colouring book which includes all of the carousel horses.
Cover Photo on Carousel Magazine
Original photo by Ed Eng. On Loan from Pat Stamp.
Remember When…
“One day, in 1999, the North Bay Carving Club received an invitation to carve one horse for the new North Bay Carousel. We ended up carving 13!
“I worked with about 6 or 8 retired men in the afternoons at an empty store in the North Bay Mall— we called it “The Stable”. The Mall was an inspired choice because many friends and shoppers stopped to watch and learn about the coming attraction.
“My favourite carving for the Heritage Carousel was Lancelot, the armoured horse, which I even got to help paint.
“When the Winter Wonderland carousel was planned, the local carvers created all 16 of the woodland creatures, copying the small models created by Edna Scott. The most unusual was a mythical Northern sea serpent called the Hippocampus, a horse with a fish tail.
“Since I carved this creature, I was aware that the Lawlor’s, the sponsoring family, asked that the horse be a palomino, with a trout tail!”
Trudy Culhane
Carousel carver