Lakeside Park Carousel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lakeside Park Carousel |
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Lakeside Park Carousel
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| Attraction type | Carousel | ||||
| Manufacturer | Charles I. D. Looff | ||||
The Lakeside Park Carousel is a super cool, old-fashioned ride located in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada. This fun carousel is part of the city of St. Catharines. It's a special place where you can ride hand-carved animals and enjoy music from a unique old organ!
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History of the Lakeside Park Carousel
The Lakeside Park Carousel was made by a famous carver named Charles I. D. Looff. He created it between 1898 and 1905 in Brooklyn, New York. Workers in Looff's factory helped carve the animals. One of them was Marcus Illions, who later became famous himself.
The carousel's decorative panels were built by George William Kremer. They look similar to another carousel at Knoebels Amusement Resort. In 1921, the carousel moved from Scarborough, Ontario, to its current home in Port Dalhousie. Back then, Lakeside Park had 58 different attractions! Today, the Lakeside Park Carousel is the only one left. The city of St. Catharines now owns and takes care of it.
What Makes the Carousel Special?
This amazing carousel has 68 animals, all carved by hand from wood. You can ride horses, lions, camels, goats, and even giraffes! There are also four chariots for those who prefer a different kind of ride. A cool fact is that the animals still have real horsehair tails!
Friends of the Carousel: Keeping it Great
The Friends of the Lakeside Park Carousel are a group of awesome volunteers. They have worked hard to carefully restore the carousel. They continue to look after it every day. Thanks to them, the carousel stays in perfect working order for everyone to enjoy!
The Frati & Co. Band Organ
Right in the middle of the Lakeside Park Carousel is a very old and special musical instrument. It's a band organ built by Frati & Co. in Berlin in the late 1800s. This organ used to play music from a special "pinned barrel." Later, a company called Wurlitzer changed it to use their own music rolls.
The organ has automatic stops and percussion instruments, also called "traps." It also has a cool feature called a duplex roll-frame. This means when one music roll finishes playing, the next one starts right away. The first roll then rewinds, ready to play again! City employees change the music rolls every two days.
- Why sometimes recorded music?
On very hot and humid days, the carousel staff sometimes play recorded music instead. This is because high heat and humidity can make the old organ go out of tune. Playing recorded music helps protect this valuable instrument.
The band organ has been restored twice, in 1985 and 2005. The city of St. Catharines makes sure it is always well-maintained.
