By Dan Horenberger
(From September 15, 2008)
It’s been a great summer. Sorry if you have been calling and not getting an answer. I was on the road for 10 weeks straight. I saw carousels from coast to coast, north to south but missed all of the Texas carousels that wanted me to visit. I’ll be there before Thanksgiving, I promise.
I have to let everyone know that the “Staycations” worked. Our carousels all report great years. As always, visiting your local carousels are a great place to go when travel costs get too high, and it showed.
During the summer trip, while working on carousels I also had a chance to embark on a Route 66 trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. We covered every inch of it, open or closed, for a book coming out next summer by my friend Hiroshi Hanamura. It was interesting standing in places where great carousels use to operate back in the day. The most fun was at “Chain of Rocks” in Missouri. Today you can walk across the original Route 66 bridge from Illinois to Missouri and stand at the foot of the once great amusement park. The most fun for me was talking to Michael Wallis the author of “Route 66: The Mother Road” and the voice of the sheriff in the Pixar movie “Cars.” Believe it or not, he was a frequent visitor to the Chain of Rocks Park.
Chain of Rocks Amusement Park is gone, but the bridge remains.
For any true Route 66 experience you need to stay and see Bill and Terri at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM, or Bob and Romona at the Monger Moss in Lebanon, MO. Have Ugly Crust Pie at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, TX.
Dan, left, with Bill and Terri at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM.
If you really need a show, stop by and see Harley and Anabelle in Erick, OK. Warning: you may want to Google “Harley and Anabelle Route 66” to see what you are in for before stopping. I have to thank them for putting up with us on their anniversary. I was honored to meet Angel Delgadillo in Seligman, AZ, the father of the movement to save and remember Route 66. The City of Seligman, AZ, and feeding the wild burrows in Oatman, AZ, are “must stops” on Route 66. There are hundreds of others place to see on the road that are just as important, and I’m sorry I can’t mention them all here. However, these are the “must see” places if you ever travel the “Mother Road.” For a detailed map of the real Route 66, get the EZ66 Guide by Jerry McClanahan. Without it we would have been lost most of the trip.
On the other end of the spectrum was seeing the small once a year, for one weekend, only Parker carousel at Hinton, OK. Local volunteers set up an entire amusement park just for one weekend. If it rains they did all that work for nothing. I want to thank the guys in Hinton for letting us play with their train. A killer Ottaway train. Right down the street (20 miles) the city of Hydro, OK, sets up its amusement park and carousel only a week earlier. We missed that show this year but have met their crew in years past. The same thing there. If it rains that weekend they do all of that work for nothing. That’s real community spirit.
The amusement park in the city of Hydro, OK, that only works one weekend a year has a fun Route 66 history exhibit. Over 50 years ago a carnival set up next to the river. A flood came and the carnival, including the Allan Herschell Carousel, flooded down the river, along with the bridge that led from from Route 66 to the city. The state and the carnival abandoned their equipment. The citizens took it upon themselves to save the rides. The rides, now restored, are in buildings. They also saved the bridge and moved it to attach the park with the rides and a rodeo area. A true American story. The townspeople didn’t complain or ask for anything from anyone. They took what the storm took from them and made the best use of it on their own.
With all of the great history that is being saved, we are still losing plenty. Astroland at Coney Island is officially closed. Geauga Lake is gone, but the carousel is being restored and moved. A lot of amusement parks are close to closing but Staycations helped.
Labor Day is the official start of a silly season for amusement parks. Are they staying or going? Selling or buying? Restoring or buying new? It all comes to close around the IAAPA Exhibits show. We’ll be there to report it all. The great thing is no antique carousel has been broken up since Whalom Park in November 2001. That’s thanks to you and all of your movements to save carousels. But you can’t rest now, there are a lot of carousels in danger of closing. If you have an area looking for a carousel, there are plenty available.
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