In case you’ve been wondering about the status report of The Buffalo Heritage Carousel to Canalside, there has been a steady amount of work underway restoring the wooden carousel horse menagerie, which, when complete, will be one of the single most Buffalo-centric destinations along the waterfront.
The solar powered carousel will become a permanent fixture at the waterfront in 2019.
To date, over $4 million has been raised towards the effort, which is incredible considering the grassroots effort from which it sprang. Here is the crucial funding timeline:
- Margaret L. Wendt Foundation provided funds to purchase the carousel
- In 2015, Buffalo Mayor Brown announced that the City will transfer the Dunbar site to the ECHDC for the carousel.
- In 2016,Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York State would provide a $1.2 challenge grant for the carousel enclosure, Key Bank and First Niagara Foundation generously met the challenge grant
- In 2015, NY Assemblyman Sean Ryan secured $600,000 for the restoration of the horses
- In 2017, NY State Senator Chris Jacobs provided $500,000 for the project as a part of a 1.5 Million dollar grant to the Explore and More Museum and the Buffalo and Erie County Naval Park Military Museum
In recent months, work has been underway to painstakingly restore 34 animals at the home of the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum. The DeAngelis Carousel is “a vintage, park-style, menagerie carousel, custom designed and manufactured in 1924 by Spilllman Engineering in N.Tonawanda for Dominick DeAngelis.”
The horses will be joined by a custom designed Erie Canal Boat Chariot. The entire wooden carousel horse menagerie will ultimately be enclosed inside a structure, which will allow the feature attraction to be open to the public year round. The solar powered carousel will complement the Explore and More Museum in creating a one-of-a-kind interactive family destination that plays upon the history of Buffalo. The carousel attraction will also be a lesson in environmental advocacy – aside from being solar powered, there will be an educational ’path’ constructed that will demonstrate the importance of alternative energy.
Expert carousel restorers abide by the original 1924 Spillman factory color palette after the horses and managerie have been paint stripped, sanded and re-fortified. Photos courtesy The Buffalo Heritage Carousel.