The Carousel of the Olympic Sea

The 20 foot diameter, ten rider, human-powered carousel made under the close guidance of carouselmaker Bill Dentzel and teachers Jim Toyne and Jim Guthrie with students in the Port Townsend School District.  The younger students painted and stenciled many different parts, older students made and painted the animals and mechanism. Traditional materials and carousel construction techniques have been used throughout.  It has been on display and operating at four of Port Townsend's Wooden Boat Festivals, in 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998.

The construction phase of this project began in September of 1991 and is now complete, less the power train remaining to be made. Several power options are available to install, solar/electric, foot-pedal, hand-crank, or regular 110 volt electricity (all would be best).

A viable permanent site for the Carousel of the Olympic Sea was not available in Port Townsend, therefore as of September 2007 it has been donated to Waveland, Mississippi.  The community of Port Townsend sent a Hurricane Katrina relief crew to the Gulf Coast immediately after the disaster and has been helping Bay Saint Louis and  Waveland.  Ruth Thompson, volunteer at the Hancock County Library, made the carousel connection through Judy Alexander, one of the Port Townsend Katrina Relief coordinators.  See Port Townsend Carousel Association homepage for more details on this exchange and how you can help.

Press Release August 2007, Donation of Carousel and Relocation to Waveland, Mississippi.  Press Release October 2007 telling about Port Townsend high school work on carousel and up-coming shipping to Waveland.

The Dentzel Connection

The Dentzel family has been making carousels since the early 1800's in Germany and later on in the United States. The Port Townsend carousel is one of nine carousels created by Bill Dentzel. Each carousel has been a group or community project often involving children.

In 1995, Bill Dentzel's 5th carousel was erected in Central Park of Davis, California under a beautifully built Victorian style pavilion. Carousel Number 7 (with the centerpole mounted onto a trailer) went to McMinneville, Tennessee in 1996. Carousel Number 8 is a hand-crank/solar/electric portable model which operates at the Solar Living Institute of Hopland, California. Number 9 is located at Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale Restaurant in Madison, Connecticut. Number 4, formerly of the Bay Area Discovery Museum of Sausalito, California is now located in Yelm, Washington. Carousel 3 is in Kelsey, California, number 2 was a special Port Townsend Sister City project in Jalapa, Nicaragua and Bill Dentzel's first carousel was built in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico in 1981. Prior to that Dentzel did carousel restoration, wooden boat work and worked on new carousels at his fathers small carousel workshop in California.  For detailed histories on each of these carousels go to Village Carousel Projects and scroll down.