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Recently Jerry Reinhardt e-mailed a "B.C." cartoon from his local paper. Two rugged, chiseled fellows are lounging on a  rock in a prehistoric setting.
The progressive captions read, "Our town was very resourceful." "How so?"
"The horse that turned the grist mill doubled as the merry-go-round."
I placed it on my bulletin board. My initial response was that it was a "one-horse town" with even the one horse having to serve double duty. But
then I realized it carries even more truth in how successful carousels
operate today.
Today¹s carousels are indeed circling outside the box, which is taking them
into expanded business operations. They aren¹t just selling tickets for a
single three-minute ride, they¹re also answering other needs of their
community and selling additional products ‹ which in turn is promoting
additional success. This isn¹t anything new, however. For many years, the
lure of a brass ring and a free ride enticed many a rider to buy one more
ticket. Now we sell package deals, such as 12 rides for the price of 10, or
even season passes.
The carousel has long inspired visitors to buy popcorn, pop, and hot dogs.
And when placed at the entrance gate to greet visitors, its merry band
organ¹s lilting sounds — signifying that even more fun is just around the
corner — have lured many people down the midway.
Modern marketing themes were apparent at the NCA¹s Technical Conference. Our
host, the Salem Riverfront Park Carousel, is a community-created machine in
a beautiful, new facility, complete with party area, gift shop, estoration
and education area, and display gallery.
The conference attendees absorbed ideas on fund-raising, marketing and heard
about innovative carousel partnerships with economic development. They also
shared their success stories.
Whether brought on by the necessity of survival, to increase community
involvement, or for financial reasons, this progress and its results are the
same. The new concepts are making it possible to create, save, restore, and
preserve carousels for future generations.
Many of our restored carousels are being placed in city and county parks.
Given today's economic times and tight budgets, the new owners have to be
very creative in their marketing strategies to keep the carousels
profitable, in part because they must compete with other projects to get
funding for repairs and maintenance. Often carousel "friends" and other
support groups help cover the shortfalls.
The NCA continues to receive inquiries on a gamut of questions related to
these topics. Many of them — from questions about marketing to public
relations to types of buildings, for example — often come in through our Web
site. People apparently realize that if carousel preservation is to
continue, the next generations must get involved. The need for education
about the history of carousels and their future is being tackled rigorously
in some unique ways.
The NCA will be including a business and marketing survey with this year¹s
census data questionnaires, to gather some of the information being
requested by more and more people, pertaining to these new challenges. We
hope all carousel owners will share their experiences, both successes and
failures, with us ‹ and in doing so, help others.
Every shared experience contributes to a better chance of preserving our
beloved carousels.
Reprinted from The Merry-Go-Roundup, Summer 2004
(Quarterly publication for NCA members.)
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