An Oregon nonprofit wants to save the Jantzen Beach carousel, but solutions have so far eluded its grasp

In a secret storage locker in North Portland, Stephanie Brown pulls back dusty plastic sheeting to reveal a herd of painted ponies. They’re members of the Jantzen Beach carousel menagerie, and they’ve been standing here silently for more than a decade.

Brown works for Restore Oregon, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting some of the state’s most endangered places. The Jantzen Beach carousel ended up on Restore Oregon’s annual list of endangered places back in 2012 after the then-owners, the Jantzen Beach Supercenter, closed the carousel and put its parts in storage during a mall renovation. A few years later, they donated everything to Restore Oregon and ever since, the nonprofit has been trying to find a new location.

“This is a big lift for a little organization like ours,” Brown said.

Here’s the problem. The carousel can’t just be rebuilt in a field somewhere. It’s old, wooden and delicate; the wooden horses are cracked, and their paint is chipped.

Restoring the ride to its former glory means placing it inside a building, which would likely cost $5 million, according to Restore Oregon’s estimates. The ride also needs repairs and renovations estimated to cost $4 million. Just storing and insuring the carousel’s parts costs about $1,000 a month, too expensive as an ongoing cost for Restore Oregon.

“If somebody wanted to take it on, then there is some potential to make money,” Brown said.

The Jantzen Beach carousel is one of the largest in the nation. When it opened in the old Jantzen Beach Amusement Park in 1928, the ride boasted 72 hand-carved horses that whizzed around in a sea of dazzling lights, mirrors and organ music.

Brown said the ride, fully assembled, is about three stories high and weighs 20 tons.

“One of the things that makes ours so interesting and loved by people is its massive size. It’s also the thing that makes it so hard to rehome,” she said.

For 45 years, the carousel entertained amusement park visitors. Then it was renovated and entertained shoppers in the Jantzen Beach mall for another 40 years.

But in 2012, a deal to relocate the carousel to the Portland Children’s Museum fell through, and the mall closed it down and put it in storage.

Since then, other plans for bringing the carousel back to life have popped up – and died. The team working to bring Major League Baseball to Portland discussed putting the carousel by a planned new stadium. But the pandemic scuppered those plans.

So now Restore Oregon is pulling out all the stops to find a new home.

Historic carousels tend to get saved in one of two ways. First, they can be bought by an established attraction, which already has space for a carousel.

“If you’re a zoo or a museum or something, you have restrooms, you have a snack bar, you’ve got a gift shop, all of that kind of stuff,” Brown said. “That doesn’t need to be part of the building, you just need to protect the carousel.”

Brown said the rides can be a real draw for events like weddings and business conferences. A carousel in Memphis was charging $5,000 for a Saturday night event before the pandemic.

“You can’t underestimate the draw for a grown adult to drink a cocktail on a carousel,” Brown said with a laugh. “It just seems to be a moneymaker.”

Another proven way to save a carousel: A small city sets one up as an attraction – as a kind of urban renewal project. That’s what happened in Albany, Oregon, in 2003.

Retiree Wendy Kirbey spearheaded the idea back then, and today says Albany’s Historic Carousel and Museum has breathed new life into the city core.

“A lot of businesses weren’t here until we opened in downtown,” Kirbey said.

It took 15 years and more than $8 million. Skeptics pointed out that nearby Salem already had a carousel.

Related: Oregon Experience: Albany breathes life into its downtown by adding historical carousel

But now 160,000 people visit the Albany carousel every year and spend an average $6 on everything from the snack bar to rides. Kirbey said many visitors go on to enjoy downtown.

“It made traffic,” she said. “All of those people ate in restaurants when they came. They bought gas. They looked at shops.”

Kirbey said the carousel museum has hosted visits from urban renewal officials from Cottage Grove, Snoqualmie, Washington, and Coquille, all seeking to understand what’s worked for Albany. The trick, she believes, is to locate a carousel downtown and offer lots of additional activities, like a café, a museum and an area where artists carve and paint carousel animals. Albany has all that.

“We can’t be a one-trick pony. The ones that fade are the ones that just have the carousel and maybe a small gift shop,” she said.

“This one is not going to fade because we have parties here, we have all kinds of different celebrations. But the carving and painting is the draw.”

National carousel expert and museum designer Barbara Fahs Charles agrees. She thinks there’s a good chance someone will pick up the Jantzen Beach carousel. She said many big city parks feature a carousel, including Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

“I hope that the city of Portland would really see this as a city asset that ought to be preserved and go into a city park,” Fahs Charles said.

Portland Parks spokesman Mark Ross said that’s probably not in the cards, “It is unlikely that Portland Parks & Recreation itself would be able to take over management of the carousel due to lack of capacity and funding,” he wrote in a statement to OPB.

He said city staff have taken part in informal conversations about potential sites, but that was primarily to give advice.

Stephanie Brown with Restore Oregon understands the parks department’s stance, but points out many cities have located carouses in public parks through public-private partnerships.

The solution of last resort is to break up the carousel and sell off the horses individually.

Back in the 1990s, when antiques were more popular, a top horse by a recognized carver could sell for $100,000. The market isn’t what it was, but a regular Jantzen Beach horse might fetch $5,000.

“We just couldn’t in good conscience allow that,” said Stephanie Brown, with Restore Oregon.

Organizations like the National Carousel Association and the Oregon Community Foundation have donated $500,000 over five years to spruce up the carousel and put together a renovation plan. But Brown said they’re loath to spend more money without a plan.

“We’re hearing from funders: ‘We’d be happy to give you more funding, when you can tell us where it’s going to go,’” Brown said.

If the carousel is restored, experts say a ring dispenser should be added. It allows riders to reach out as they circle and grab a ring. If they get a brass one, it means a free ride. The activity has been immortalized in the phrase “reach for the brass ring.”

Restore Oregon is asking for proposals from interested museums, cities and businesses in Oregon. If they haven’t found a suitable one by mid-September, they’ll start looking nationwide.