Village Carousel Project
At Home and Abroad
Village Carousel Project
At Home and Abroad
William H. Dentzel makes small community carousels for the joy and empowerment of children. These are simple, loveable menagerie carousels built in the "flying horses" tradition (see Watch Hill, RI). The carousel can be built on site or delivered finished and ready to operate, paint ready for a local painting program.
Examples (detailed stories below): FIOSCER of Chiapas funded a project in San Cristobal and Ochuxsop, Mexico. The Port Townsend Sister City Association delivered the parts and assembled one in Jalapa, Nicaragua. A private business such as Lenny and Joe’s Fishtale Drive-In of Madison, CT put one in their dining area. The Davis Educational Foundation of California put one in their central park, as did The Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA.
You are closely involved with the animal selection and decorative elements of the carousel mechanism. You determine the level of your involvement with the carousel's construction.
A Village Carousel flying-horses type of carousel is a fun ride, simpler than the galloping type of carousel. A flying-horses carousel does not have a standing platform or the overhead up and down cranking arms. The animals or chariots hang on a pole and are supported in the rear by a chain. The brass ring catching device and clown face type collector target are standard components for a Village Carousel.
The carousel must be under a roof. A canvas canopy will work for the summer only, ideally the carousel is placed under a pavilion or indoors. The carousel is not a free standing ride, it can only be open to riders and operation when a designated operator is present and operating the ride. The operator or assistant will also manage the rings for the ring-catcher game. Youths, as young as 12 years old have often proven to be the best operators of the carousel (with a young adult or adult supervisor in the vicinity of course).
All ages find tasks getting a Village Carousel ready to ride, ranging from children stenciling and painting the scenic panels or animals, to animal carving or mechanism component fabrication for more skilled adults or high school shop students. Fund raising too, each age level has its own best way of getting the carousel's costs covered. Every project is a unique combination of site made and workshop made components as well as construction involvement.
Depending on the type of project you envision and your budget, a durable and beautiful carousel can be made for just about any place on this planet frequented by children.
Dentzel’s workshop is located in Port Townsend, Washington, although the Village Carousel Project can be happening in remote locations.
Since 1981 there have been nine Village Carousel Projects, in four states (WA, CA, TN, CT) and three countries (Mexico, Nicaragua, USA). Some of these have websites of their own on the internet; see the carousel census for more information.
Costs for a carousel range from $40,000 to $65,000. Recouping the cost of the carousel through ride sales can happen in a reasonable amount of time; look at Lenny and Joe's website.
Once the project is initiated the construction and installation process takes from three to six months. With simple scheduled maintenance the carousel should last many decades or longer, there is little to wear down or break. Go to the Dentzel Solar Menagerie Carousels homepage to view other parts of this website to see photos, drawings, and the history of what is offered through the Village Carousel Project. Check some of the animal possibilities you may choose from.
See also the University of Solar Amusement.
BACK TO DENTZEL SOLAR MENAGERIE CAROUSELS HOMEPAGEREAD TEN COMMUNITY CAROUSEL STORIES
1. Ochuxsop, Chiapas, Mexico
In 1980 Bill Dentzel was living in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, a highland colonial city in the midst of several distinctive Mayan villages. In SCLC Bill was privileged to be able to learn the art of turning tropical hardwoods on the lathe to make bowls under the instruction of renowned Venezuelan artist Anna Maria Olalde. It was through Ms. Olalde's suggestion that Bill broke away from the antique carousel restoration routine he had when working in California and wooden boat restoration in Europe. With Anna's help, Bill approached the Casa de la Culture y Bellas Artes in San Cristobal and discussed the possibilities of building a carousel in Chiapas. A preliminary sketch was given to "Memo" director of Bellas Artes and "el Archetecto" (the head of F.I.O.S.C.E.R. in Chiapas, government trust fund for social projects for sugar cane workers of scarce resources, funded by the sugar tax). In a surprisingly short period of time, three months, the plan was approved at F.I.O.S.E.R. HQ in Mexico City and Bill was given the go-ahead to work with the local people in Chiapas to build this carousel.
A five rider carousel was built in SCLC in the Spring of 1981, mostly at the workshop area of Kiki and Gabriel Saurez in the La Quinta household. Local Spanish pinewood, regularly used for house construction and furniture, was stacked like tee-pees in la Quinta courtyard to dry. A plank workbench was built and with a handful of simple tools the animals were cutout and carved into shape. Don Trini, the local welder and repairman extraordinaire, was the major collaborator for the moving mechanism's construction. The hub and spindle of a large salvaged truck rear-end was used for the main bearing. The whole rotating hub mechanism had thick steel straps for mounting onto a wooden pole or tree trunk, as it turn out to be. Several talented SCLC artists joined in the effort to paint the animals at La Quinta. A large celebration party followed the completion of the carousel's parts. After this, the incredible journey was made to Ochuxsop (via Comitan and through Tzmol) in a jeep-like 1971 Volvo wagon.
The village of Ochuxsop had no real roads and was built on an ancient hill site overlooking the "zona cañeros" and a large subtropical canyon. The friendly people of Ochuxsop spoke their Indian language and some Spanish. After making camp in a school room, in short order a thick cedar tree was located, cut down and used as the center pole. In their typical thorough and natural style the village work team dug a deep pit at the center of the location, lowered the huge butt of the cedar tree down into it and locked the pole into position with huge boulders and tightly packed clay dirt. After that a stout circular palm palapa was expertly built over the centerpole on the schoolyard site and the carousel (horse view) was fitted and assembled there. During this time, the women of the village were making hundreds of green leaf wrapped tamales (cooked in huge outdoor pits) and other local treats. On the day of the inauguration hundreds of people came to Ochuxsop on foot and horseback from the whole surrounding region. The big fiesta happened, the carousel (chariot view) was used to its maximum heavy duty specifications, often times carrying five riders PER animal with two or three kids inside pulling the rope to make the carousel spin with another two or three who crawled up into the upper mechanism sweep arms to hold on for the ride.
Amazingly, a day later, toward the end of the fiesta, the sky started raining fine white flakes, they weren't snow. The buildings and land slowly became fuzzy white with ash, the sky was a strange grayish pink, the atmosphere was warm and silent. Later it was found out that all of the roads to San Cristobal were closed because the volcano "el Chichonal" had exploded. The carousel crew was obliged to stay on an additional week in Ochuxsop because of this, eating scores more of the big fat tamales, beans, rice, eggs, and an occasional bit of chicken.
During the extended stay many small matters presented by the villagers, some were taken care of such as fixing small gasoline engines and examining water problems. Water was the continual topic of discussion among the elders. Even though there was a raging river flowing through the bluegreen canyon at the base of the rocky and dry hill, water still had to be hauled over a mile up a steep trail to the village in wooden barrels on the backs of donkeys. Leading the donkeys up the trail, and usually carrying a barrel or can of water also were the village's children, this was a daily chore.
The carousel crew rode horses down to this river and were amazed at its waterfalls and large shaded pools held up by mineral dams. Of course we all went swimming, the water was refreshing and mild, no bugs. Soon after this news of the roads opening up arrived, the trip back to the ash buried city of San Cristobal had to take place. The scene there was of devastation, surrealistic and sad. Everywhere you looked from 6 to 24 inches of extremely fine gray powder had settled, reaching into every little crack and interior space. The carousel adventure came to a rapid close, the crew went into survival mode. Still, the magic and joy experienced with the people of Ochuxsop assured "Don Guillermo" that making simple carousels in remote communities for children to ride was a wonderful life's pursuit.
Note: In 2004, 23 years later, Zaryn Dentzel, Bill's older son, on a coffee research trip to Central America, was able to loop north to Comitan and San Cristobal. With directions from his Bill, he was able to reach Ochuxsop, still very isolated and off the beaten track. The carousel was still operating in the school yard near the town square. The people had stories of his dad and the days of celebration when setting it up. The main question was, when is Don Guillermo coming back? The answer is, a.s.a.p., maybe late in 2005 if lucky.
2. Jalapa, Nicaragua
After moving to Port Townsend, Washington in 1983, Bill Dentzel got involved with a peace group headed by Doug and Nancy Milholland forming the Jalapa/Port Townsend Sister City Association. Their goal was to establish peace and encourage friendly exchange between the regular citizens of the United States and the people of Nicaragua. They wanted to make a monument of peace in the war torn areas of both countries. Among other things, such as an improved water and sewage system, the group established a city park which had a play structure and a carousel. The carousel animals were built by Bill while attending the École de Sculpture sur Bois as a guest instructor in St. Jean-Port Joli, Québec, in 1982, the mechanism was built in Santa Barbara early in 1983, then in 1985 Marion Dentzel bought the machine and donated it to the sister city group. In 1986 a group of volunteers from Port Townsend WA and Boulder CO went down to Jalapa with a truck load of equipment and supplies (carousel pre-shipment set-up) and worked with the Jalapan people to complete these projects. In Port Townsend several big fund raising dances and auctions were organized along with other informative presentations.
Note: In 2004, 18 years later, Zaryn Dentzel was able to locate and visit this small regional agricultural village in the northern hills near the Honduran border while making his free-trade and co-op coffee research trip in 2004. It was a sad story he heard and had to relay back to Village Carousel Project HQ in Port Townsend. During the war with the contras the carousel was dismantled and stored by the villagers to protect it. Certain parts were "borrowed" (chains, etc.) for other uses which made it impossible to re-erect. Now the animals are scattered in different houses in the area and the carousel awaits a restoration crew.
3. North Star Tree Farm, Kelsey, California
This was actually the first carousel mechanism Bill Dentzel made in Port Townsend, it was 1984. The centerpole was the larger half of the differential used in the sistercity carousel which had the third member right-angled gears. Bill dragged it up to Port Townsend in the back of a U-Haul truck with his new little family and all of their worldly possessions. This gear assembly made it possible to make a very smooth and solid hand crank to drive the carousel's hub. As with the previous two carousels, the carousel was 14 feet in diameter and had four animals and a chariot all hanging fore and aft by chains. The Sansom's of Kelsey, CA were visiting Port Townsend in 1985 and saw this carousel at a temporary downtown site operating for the weekend. They wanted to buy it for their tree farm and pumpkin patch park. That is where it stands today in a beautiful rustic setting at the center of the North Star Tree Farm.
4. Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, California to Hunter's Tree Farm and Pumpkin Patch, Olympia, Washington
This was the carousel that made the biggest technological leaps since the first one built in Mexico 10 years earlier. In 1989 the program director of the Bay Area Discovery Museum saw an article in the Carousel News and Trader about Bill Dentzel's simple little carousels. She thought it would be good for the children in the San Francisco Bay area to have an opportunity to get involved with the making, or as it turned out, painting, of their own carousel. After meetings, waiting periods, fund raising and site planning, the day came late in 1990 that Bill was given the go-ahead for this project. This time the mechanism would be 18 feet in diameter (later similar models went up to 20' diameter) and carry 10 riders instead of 5 by having two rows of animals. Also, the animals would be hanging on poles going through the body just in front of the saddle, a single chain would also be used to balance the animal attached to the rump just like the horses on the Dare carousel in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Yet even with these innovations the most radical development was yet to come, that was the use of a recumbent seat with a foot-pedaling crank mechanism attached with a long drive shaft at ground level to a vertical shaft next to the centerpole powering the carousel's hub.
The pedaling mechanism was challenging to design and build as it had to be solid, durable, weatherproof, and able to accommodate children peddlers as well as adults comfortably, ergonomics. Miraculously, working in the little Port Townsend workshop right off the future 52nd Street trail, Bill created this whole mechanism, completely filling the space of the shop to do so. One final assembly and adjustment phase was undertaken in a neighbor's rented RV garage before the mechanism, eight menagerie animals and one double swan chariot was loaded into the utility trailer and van for the ride south to Sausalito.
At the children's museum site it was a big show with hundreds of young artists working on all aspects of the carousel, painting, stenciling, assembly of parts, test-riding, and pedaling. The carousel operated there until 1999 when it was sold in order to make room for new exhibits, by fortunate circumstances it was bought by the Port Townsend Carousel Association to be used as an interim carousel for the summer of 2000 after which it was sold for a small profit to the carousel association to Hunter's Tree Farm and Pumpkin Patch. This caused a bit of a stir in some Port Townsend circles and made for a few uncomfortable encounters, ouch, between the Port Townsend Carousel Association and the city manager and city attorney. Apparently some powerful people in Port Townsend do not want to see this type of activity occurring in their "Victorian Seaport", although paradoxically the golden era of carousel development was the late 1800's, the same era that ushered in Port Townsend's charming looks. During this period dozens of carousel companies flourished in the USA and produced all manner of rides. Nevertheless, the Sausalito Carousel, as it was called, is pedal powered and operates seasonally at a very special kid's farm near Olympia, WA.
5. Davis Educational Foundation, Davis, California
John Yates was visiting Sausalito in 1994 when he saw the foot-pedal powered carousel at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. He was a founder and member of the Davis Educational Foundation, local citizens dedicated to helping the public schools do better with updated equipment and program assistance. The possibility of using a carousel, ridden by children, operated by specific classrooms as a project to raise money, was presented to the group. In the sustainable tradition of university town Davis, the board of the DEF loved the idea. Of course Bill liked the idea too, and agreed to orchestrate a similar community painting program as was done in the big warehouse right next to the BADM at Fort Baker in Sausalito. Again local kids painted all of the parts during a big month long program held at one of Davis's local elementary school's multipurpose room.
When finished the carousel sat under a beautiful pavilion built by Chuck Roe and friends, one of the board members who was a building contractor. The location is perfect, in the kids play area end of the town's central park right next to the beautifully laid out farmer's market stalls. Students manage the ticket sales, the opening and closing of the ride, and of course are the power source for making it go by using the foot-pedal mechanism located right next to the entrance gate. Years of successful operation of this carousel have brought tens of thousands of dollars to classroom and school projects. Recently, while undergoing a much needed 10 year overhaul, all of the animals were dismounted from the carousel. During this period "Seymour" the seal was stolen. After a long waiting period, hopes of a mysterious return, and no leads to his whereabouts, a new seal had to be built, these are the construction process photos. A 10 year anniversary celebration will take place in Davis September 2005. Photos of recent seal replacement project.
6. Port Townsend Carousel Association, Port Townsend, Washington
In 1991, after the wonderful experience working with the kids at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, Bill Dentzel ran the idea by Jim Toyne, the shop instructor, and Bob Alford, the district superintendent, of building a similar carousel in the Port Townsend high school shop; both were solidly behind the project. Still, funds for materials and classroom assistant time had to be raised and many other details worked out, most crucial of which came to be the location of a site.
The idea itself was initiated in 1984 when the Port Townsend Carousel Association was founded, but it wasn't until 1991 that the "build it in the school" plan was devised. Still, as other projects regularly slipped ahead in line, it took until 1995 to complete this wooden centerpole carousel mechanism which has six animals and two double chariots. During construction it was set-up to run at the Wooden Boat Festival more than once. With Bill Dentzel's guidance, students in the Port Townsend schools made and painted the whole carousel. Unable to find a site for a permanent installation in Port Townsend or Jefferson County the Carousel of the Olympic Sea has been donated to the city of Waveland, Mississippi as part of a local effort to help with the hurricane Katrina reconstruction in the Gulf Coast.
7. Bonnie and Steve Davis, McMinnville, Tennessee
Bonnie Davis saw a newspaper article on Bill Dentzel's people powered carousels and decided to give him a call in 1995. She had an idea to operate a portable carousel at various fairs and festivals happening throughout the year in her Cumberland Plateau region of Tennessee. With the help of Steve Taylor of Mobil Logic, Bill designed and built the 20' diameter, 10 rider, portable carousel mechanism. Squeezing in a carousel project, while continuing the more bread and butter task of house carpentry, could only happen with more help, so Steve Arment of Enterprise, Oregon was contacted to make the eight animals plus one extra for display, Bill would make the swan chariot, all of the component parts, hardware and scenic panels.
By late spring 1996 the carousel was ready, this was after its beginning in Port Townsend and completion in Carpinteria, CA. Because Bonnie and Steve were professional sign painters they wanted to paint the whole carousel themselves to save some money and have some special fun, this expedited the project. With white primered animals loaded into the small Datsun pick-up and the mechanism trailing behind, Zaryn, 12 years old, and Bill drove out to New Mexico to meet Bonnie and Steve at the halfway point between Carpinteria and McMinneville, Tucumcari NM. At home Bonnie and Steve painted the animals and scenic panels and put on their own special touches. Soon they were operating it at venues throughout the Cumberland region and continue to do so today.
8. Solar Living Institute, Hopland, California
Even though this carousel was not completed and installed until May 2005, it was conceived and partially built in 1996-1997, it just took a few years to get all the ducks in a row (as with most carousels from the moment of first conception). Hopland, and neighboring Ukiah, are somewhere in the middle of the road trip between Port Townsend and Santa Barbara, depending on which combination of roads you choose. On one of the annual family trips south/north, car loaded with blankets, food, games, and layers of clothing, a large segment of the highway 101 route was chosen mainly to show the kids the big trees, Paul Bunyan and his ox, and possibly give Bill a chance to peak at the Real Goods store to see what they had on the shelves. One thing he noticed was the display showing how they were going to build a big passive solar store with a pond, a fountain and lots of solar panels, calling it the Solar Living Center. Naturally, always seeing possible sites for carousels during his travels, the idea of a solar carousel occurred to him at this time. While in the midst of building Bonnie and Steve's mechanism, Bill decided to break one of his rules (a recurring event) and build a similar mechanism on speculation, only the drive off of the gearbox would go to a DC motor which would be hooked up to two deep cycle batteries and trickle charged by a solar panel. Fortunately, the new magnet center in Port Townsend was giving classes in electronics and getting this system set-up was a perfect project.
So, there was the knowledge to build a solar powered mechanism. Fortunately a couple of real test runs were possible with this carousel by borrowing animals from the carousel workshop. This solar carousel operated at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival in 1998 and was also used as part of a small educational program presented to elementary and primary school students with the carousel set-up on the school campuses accompanied by classroom presentations of carousel art, design, and history. With the completion of Lenny and Joe's carousel (see below) there were no more spare animals so the mechanism had to be put in long-term storage. The storage period ended when Bill met with John Schaeffer, founder of Realgoods and, amazingly, grandson of a carousel owner/operator in Santa Monica, in fact, Edward Dentzel, Bill's grandfather and also an owner/operator of Southern California carousel probably know John's grandfather. It didn't take long for John and the crew to give an enthusiastic OK from the Solar Living Institute to make a purchase agreement and set the carousel up for official solar operation in Hopland. Animals had to be designed and made, the Swan Chariot was the only animal in inventory. Bill made the Wild Turkey, Skunk, Salmon, and Horse, Steve Arment of Enterprise OR made the Cougar, Deer, Rabbit, and Wild Boar. All of the animals were painted by Bill over a three week period in April and May of 2005 on the SLI Hopland site. The centerpole was erected on the site a few months in advance so little was left to do other than the final assembly after the animals were painted and had their reins and stirrups attached. The rest is history, so to speak, and a big part of that history was the wonderful Solfest event on August 20-21, 2005, christening the SLI carousel.
9. Lenny and Joe's Fishtale Drive-In, Madison, Connecticut
Either Lenny or Joe discovered the early Dentzel carousel website in 1997 and saw the possibility of adding a nice little carousel to their very popular Long Island Sound fish restaurant campus. Of course, as always, periods of wait and consideration had to occur until late 1998 when one of these wonderful and industrious restaurateur brothers made the call to order a carousel. This put the design and building process at the Port Townsend Dentzel workshop into the production mode; steel fittings, centerpole, animals, lobster chariot, hippocampus, electric motor drive-train, scenic panels, paint, lights, were now moving through various lists and work stations. Fortunately Lenny and Joe chose to use several animals which were in inventory which relieved some of the pressure to get the carousel up and running in Madison by Memorial Day 1999, only months away.
After a winter and spring of carousel construction Bill invited Michael Levine, a local Port Townsend astronaut, to be his co-pilot in the big ugly (1978 E250) van and utility trailer rig filled with animals, mechanism, and scenics plus the painting program kit. The drive from Port Townsend to Madison was close to 3000 miles, which included a snow storm in Wyoming and a touch of Paradise at Jim and Jane's southeast Iowa wilderness hangout. Jim Barker, a well known bird artist, took up an offer to follow along to Madison to paint the shields (with local bird species of course). Arriving in Madison, Lenny and Joe generously put us all up at the Dolly Madison Inn. Here all of the halls and floors were crooked and the ceilings easy to touch with your hands over head even for short people. The lobby was actually a very well stocked Yankee bar at least 100 years old, right on the other side of the entry foyer was a very comfortable family style gourmet restaurant. The most we ever used this area was for the big Sunday breakfast, otherwise Lenny and Joe gave the carousel crew a free meal ticket at their fish drive-in, this is a first class drive-in with a big menu.
Four weeks of assembly and painting burned up most of the energy gained by the big Long Island Sound fish meals served at the drive-in (scrod fish and chips, Rhode Island clam chowder, soft shell crab, coleslaw, onion rings, baked potatoes, lemonade). Kids and seniors helped paint the carousel parts, Jim did beautiful local wildlife birds on the shields, and Bonnie and Steve drove out from McMinnville, TN to help paint the animals. Bill had to make a small but difficult modification to one of the carousel drive parts, fortunately the new heavy duty rollers needed were available nearby in New Haven. Both ring catchers were set-up, the standard one on the outside row and one for the inside row, this is probably the only carousel in the world that has an inside row ring catcher, Lenny and Joe truly believe in fairness. A great party was made for the opening day, Bill hung around to iron-out some small details, everyone went home, the party was over. Since 1999 Lenny and Joe's Magical Fishtale Charity Carousel has raised over $250,000 through ride ticket sales, all of the money goes to local charity programs.
10. Ready: Wooden Centerpole, sweeps, hardware, and gears stored next to Dentzel Workshop, Port Townsend, Washington
The new owners can choose the animals, chariot, and many design and drive options*. The mechanism is 20 feet in diameter and 12 feet tall, it will carry 10 riders.
*110 AC electric, DC electric including solar, foot-pedal, or hand-crank.
Art: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture in a variety of mediums using carousel as model, Design and Scale Drawing (see Dentzel Coloring Album).
Math: Simple word problems on operation, geometry, trigonometry.
Science: Simple machines, energy, ecology (see Non-Grid graphic).
History: Ancient to Modern, American (see Carousels of Long Ago).
Writing: Creative.
Vocational Education: Woodworking, metalworking, machining (see Carousel Construction Handbook).
Computer Technology: Graphics, research.
Simple Machines and Physics: A major attraction for the University of Solar Amusement, featuring the world's first and only Solar Thermosyphon Waterwheel Ride.
See Dentzel Carousel Census page for locations of Village Carousels.
Last Up-dated June 7, 2007
Site Copyright © 1997-2007 by William H. Dentzel
