Idora Park Update: Carousel Finds It's New Home In NY

The last significant remnant of Idora Park may never come back to Youngstown but it sure will be a big star in the bright lights of NY.

"It’s a pretty dramatic location, between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, and the carousel will be sheltered in a pretty ritzy pavilion, a $9 million transparent acrylic jewel box by the French architect Jean Nouvel. The horses, originally installed in a theme park in Youngstown in 1922, are now looking pretty good themselves: Their glass eyes glitter; they have brass tags denoting their fine lineage, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company; they’re costumed in sweet sherbet colors of peach and tangerine. There’s a palomino here, a bay there, a line of ponies. Each is different: one, perhaps an American Indian pony, has two feathers on its decorative, or what carousel aficionados call its “romantic” side, the one that is visible to spectators. Another has a shawl across its back and a clutch of roses at the saddle. A Gypsy woman’s horse, no doubt."

Let Youngstown become the really livable, affordable, creative place NY once was. We take the people and the energy and they get the shiny museum pieces in plastic boxes for tourists too look at. Fair trade.

My previous posts about this.

See The Idora Park Carousel : In New York

Letter From Youngstown : Can The Idora Park Carousel Return?

Idora Park Carousel Update

Letter From Youngstown : Can The Idora Park Carousel Return?

I may be crossing a bit of a line in publishing this email I received about the Idora Park Carousel, the last major fragment left of a beloved local amusement park. Read my earlier post about it. I replied to the email with a request to post it but haven't heard back. I am taking a shot at publishing it. It's the only small thing I can do to try to make something happen. It's up to the people of Youngstown to show they want it back and can realistically show it the love it deserves.

Hopefully this will catch someone's eye and spark some movement.

"Hello , I am a proud resident of Youngstown Ohio. I was loking for some information on the Beautiful Idora Park Carousel. I call her " Idora" . I do realize that she has been beautifully restored, and resides under some bridge, in Brooklyn, NY. I have also heard that she is not particularly wanted there In her new( hopefully temporary) home. My heart aches, just thinking that Idora ( the carousel) is not wanted there, and we sincerly want her back. Idora belongs in Youngstown Ohio. OK she was put on the auction block. I was pretty young when the Idora Carousel was auctioned off. Not that I had the money to purchase her,but I believed, like I know many here in Youngstown, felt that one of our more well to do, residents would step up and rescue " Our Beloved Carousel" Unfortunatly that did not happen, and we lost Idora. It is a great loss for our area, and we still feel the loss today. We want her back. I realize that a Jane Walensa bought, and restored her, and that is something to be thankful for. Knowing that Jane loves her also help a little. However Idora belongs here in Youngstown Ohio, It's her home. Perhaps Mrs. Jane Walensa can offer to give her back to her hometown. I am sure that even Jane would want The Idora Park Carousel , to be settled in a place that truly loves her , and wants her back. It was a huge mistake to let her be auctioned off so easily, without fighting for her. It was a bad time for our city, at that particular point in time. We had lost our steel mills,and our economy was hiting theskids. We were in shock. Trying to figure out what happened to our economy, and where do we go from here. then the fire hit Idora Park, and the owner decided to auction off what was left. Our town has finally after long last had some great breaks lately, and we are on our way back, hopefully, thank God. all I know is, that whenever Idora Park is mentioned, The next words words are always the same. The Carousel should never have been on the auction block, and let go the way it did. Help us get her back."

Thank you.

It's a strange, sad situation with the potential for a very happy ending.

A little context might help which I might give in a later post. Just like the reader of the letter, what upset me most is that it's mostly not wanted in NY, or at least in the place Jane wants to put it.

This is similar to the Mellon Arena, Lower Hill story, in that you can't easily separate an object or buildings value or meaning from it's historical and cultural setting.