Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival
2017
"Flying Horses" carousel riding will no longer occur at the
PTWBF. After an unfortunate carnie ride mishap at the Rhody Fest this
year, May 2017, a heightened concern for liability coverage has priced
the little wooden carousel out of the venue. For the many years the
carousel has been operating at the festival without incident; only tons
of fun for kids and adults. Just another sign of the changing times,
the evolution of the human community. For every door that closes a new
door opens; this unexpected shift is actually helping to fill the sails
of the quest south for MGR#10 which will soon to set out on a long
journey in the direction of Chiapas,
Mexico. Departure date depends on the fund raising campaign reaching
launch velocity. It will be the
first major component of a local carousel workshop and village carousel
training and construction program. More news
will be shared here and on this site's "News" link at bottom of page as
this program gains altitude.
1994-2016
Several different carousels were operated at the annual Port Townsend
Wooden Boat Festival between 1994 and 2016. The earlier years saw
versions of the wooden centerpole style Carousel of the Olympic Sea
being operated by the same high school and elementary school students
that helped build and paint it. These early models were human powered
with a rope-pull, hand-crank or foot-pedal mechaniam. Beginning in 2012
the hand-crank/electric portable steel frame trailer carousel was used
at the festival. The ring dispenser and clownface target are always an
important part of the complete ride picture; an integral part of
carousel-type-ride's long history going back to the Middle East a
thousand years ago.
Early on we charged for rides, thinking this to be the reasonable
way to be paid for this operation. Unfortunately, at a dollar per ride,
most kids (or parents) were't able to pay for more than one or two
rides. The problem was that after one or two rides the kids realized
they really liked the little carousel and wanted to ride a lot more,
play the ring catching game, even take a turn at cranking it. But this
ride ticket system never could earn us enough money to justify all of
the building, set-up and operation time for the crew.
We had to figure out a way to make this fun experience happen
smoother for everybody instead of dealing with little kids and their
money. Then the idea of getting carousel-event sponsors came from an
elderly carousel and children's advocate. Plan being; reach out, get
ten carousel loving adults to each put up $100 sponsorships (or $25
each in groups of 4) then we don't have to charge for rides. Free rides
all day, for children and adults...but you must dismount your animal at
the end of each ride and get back in line again for the next ride.
With this new sponsorship plan ridership increased dramaticly. We
were full of riders, operators and ring dispenser refillers all day
long every day. The kids did a great job of using and managing the ride
(with adult supervision of course). With the ring game a wider age
range, especially boys, stayed longer riding the carousel. Below is a
list of the sponsors who helped make this ride "free for all" system possible the last five years.
Thank you so much to these sponsors:
2013
1. Mary Wilson
2. Jean Baldwin & Jim Quarles
3. Carla Main & Brad West
4. Elevated Ice Cream Store
5. Mary Jo Mackenzie & Brad Jensen
6. The Wooden Boat Foundation
2014
1. Christopher Dentzel, S.B. CA
2. Three Chords and the Truth, Honky-Tonk Band, P.T. WA
3. Bill and Kathy Quinn, National Carousel Association
4. Al and Megan Bergstein, P.T. WA
5. 1st Friday iPod Shuffle Dance, P.T. WA
6. Zaryn Dentzel, Madrid, Spain
7. Bob Pittenger, P.T. WA
8. Mary Wilson, P.T. WA
9. Dean Lebens, P.T. WA
10. Noreen and Jim McCarron, P.T. WA
11. The Wooden Boat Foundation
2015
1. 1st Friday iPod Shuffle Group, at the Quimper Grange
2. Carla Main & Brad West, Port Townsend
3. Elevated Ice Cream Store, Port Townsend
4. Maribeth and Bruce Cannavaro, Port Townsend
5. Zaryn - Sophia - Noah Dentzel, Port Townsend
6. Al and Megan Bernstein, Port Townsend
7. Kathy and Bill Quinn, National Carousel Association
8. RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend
9. Unity, Port Townsend
10. Anonymous and Larry Dennison, Port Townsend
11. The Wooden Boat Foundation
2016
1. World's End, fun store downtown P.T.
2. RoseWind CoHousing Group 1, Port Townsend
3. RoseWind CoHousing Group 2, Port Townsend
4. Anonymous from NY + Dana Cody & Brian Puziss Group
5. Elevated Ice Cream, Port Townsend
6. Anonymous from P.T.
7. Carla Main & Brad West
8. Marion W. "Oma" & Z.A. Dentzel
9. Dr. Clark Sturdivant, DDS, P.T.
10.Lyn Hersey, John L. Scott Realty, P.T.
11. The Wooden Boat Foundation
Special mention for logistical support: Doug Warren and Bob Pittenger
(couldn't find 2012 sponsor list)
Photo gallery of past festival operatiions coming here soon.