THUNDER BAY – The much-loved carousel at Chippewa Park reopened on Saturday to the enjoyment of the families who love to spend their weekends at the park.
After being damaged last week by a motor vehicle, the ride has been repaired and has been deemed up to snuff by the TSSA and Donna Gilhooly, co-chair of the carousel Restoration Committee said that she was elated to already have the ride up and running.
“They gave us their safety approval and their technical approval just 48 hours ago and the staff here, Tom Forsythe and Dan Gallotti, Honest to gosh, those guys just worked day and night to get it up and running again.” she said.
It took a full week to repair the damage done to the historic carousel before the TSSA could do their inspections, said Gilhooly.
“And the only thing they had to outsource was the iron bars that hold up the floor and keep it level, that had to go to a local company but everything else was done in-house.” she said. You'll notice all of these stones here they've been put in as kind of natural looking barrier to it, and of course the demolished Chariot was taken away.”
Gilhooly said that the support from the community has been tremendous over the last week and that I just goes to show how deeply the community cares about its heritage.
“I think it's emotional, I think we can all remember being on it as a kid or with our grandparents or with our parents,” she said. “You know, you talk to people and they say, oh, I was here when I was a kid and it's joyful, it's colourful, and it is one of the wonderful experience as a child and here we have one that's so rare and it's still operational, and the community owns it.”
The cost of the repairs was covered by insurance according to Gilhooly, who said it will not affect the funds raised by the community for the rest of the restoration work.
For those who wish to experience the carousel, the amusement rides at Chippewa Park operate Wednesday to Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. until Labour Day.
