Maintaining the 1913 C.W. Parker Carousel

Ron Naylor, a volunteer carousel engineer, explains repairs needed to the carousel
~Submitted by Tammie Ferguson
 

The C.W. Parker Carousel Museum, which is home to four gorgeous carousels, is closed during the month of January. During this time, staff and volunteers are busy restoring donated horses to add to the museum's exhibits, rearranging and reorganizing the gift shop, meeting, and Carousel rooms, and most importantly, maintaining our treasured 1913 C.W. Parker carousel. 

During a recent visit to the museum, I spoke with volunteer carousel engineer, Ron Naylor, about the repair work he would be doing to the carousel. "We need to take apart this whole A-frame," said Naylor. "It's a dirty job. You get grease up to your nose, but that's the only way to get in there and do what we need to do." 

Volunteers noticed a vibration in the carousel during its operation a while back. After a couple of attempts to fix the problem, they're hopeful that during the January break the team will be able to make the carousel run smoothly again and do some other maintenance operations to keep our beautiful carousel in motion. It's one of the oldest, operating wooden carousels of its kind and if you've ever ridden it, you know it's also pretty fast. It takes a lot of skill, time and labor to keep it operational.

Kudos to the Carousel Museum staff and volunteers who work hard to keep our carousel functional and play a role in making the museum, which is possibly the largest in the country with operating carousels, as the #1 attraction in the City of Leavenworth.