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nepalostparks
Posts:32
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| 04/06/2008 5:40 PM |
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This article appeared in the local newspaper today. I can only hope it ends up back home here.
Original article at: http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19458327&BRD=2259&PAG=461&dept_id=455154&rfi=6
Family’s rare antique carousel to be auctioned
Elizabeth Skrapits, Staff Writer
04/06/2008
DALLAS BOROUGH — It felt like she was putting a child up for adoption when she finally agreed to put her carousel on the auction block.
The brightly-painted animals, each one unique in all the world, are like children to Mary Ann Wintersteen.
The Harveys Lake resident has a stack of albums filled with photos and memorabilia of the 1909 Looff-Mangels carousel that has been in the family for more than 90 years.
“You see so many carousel horses and the animals look so mean. My animals are so friendly-looking,” Wintersteen said, flipping through page after page of photos of wooden horses, camels, giraffes and goats. “They’re my babies.”
Her son and the carousel’s co-owner, Robert A. Wintersteen, is an only child. He has two daughters, and Mary Ann Wintersteen didn’t know how to pass it on to them.
“I had to be the bad guy and sell it. How can you split a carousel up between two granddaughters?” she said.
The carousel goes up for sale in Florida on April 23. It’s too late to call the auction off, Wintersteen said: the auctioneer, Norton of Michigan, has already sent out full-color glossy brochures and done other substantial advertising.
“I get calls from people asking, ‘How can you do this?’ But I’ve been widowed a long time, and I can’t be an absentee landlord,” Wintersteen said. “Nobody understands unless they’ve been in my shoes.”
She tried to find a home for the carousel in northeast Pennsylvania, but couldn’t find a civic organization willing to adopt it.
The 45-foot carousel was originally steam-driven, but was converted to electricity in 1930. The Steamtown historical association in Scranton was interested because of that, but a deal fell through, Wintersteen said.
Wintersteen wasn’t asking the right people, according to Elizabeth Martin of Dallas.
Many Back Mountain residents, who remembered the carousel fondly from its decades at Harveys Lake, want to keep it at home, said Martin, who is among those racing against time in an effort to bring it home for future generations to enjoy as they did.
“If I had known it, I would have brought it home and put it in storage,” Wintersteen said.
“She feels so bad about signing the contract, but she just didn’t think anyone cared,” Martin said. “I told her to look forward, not back.”
The Brass Ring Fund
Sweet Valley resident Duane Updyke, an amusement park ride enthusiast, found out the Wintersteen carousel was going up for auction and decided to take action.
“It’s probably the crown jewel of our area as far as historical pieces go, and we want to bring it back here,” he said. “It just seems right that we have it back in our community.”
Updyke and his wife, Annette, teamed up with Martin and the Rev. Roger E. Griffith, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Dallas and a member of the band Eddie Day and the Original Starfires, to form a nonprofit group to save the carousel.
On Friday, the Brass Ring Fund came about, under the auspices of Luzerne Foundation Executive Director Charles Barber.
“The Luzerne Foundation has allowed us to use them as an umbrella for the 501-C3, so we can be nonprofit,” Martin said. “It was absolutely wonderful of Charles Barber, who worked very closely with Roger Griffith.”
The Wintersteen “Menagerie Machine,” with 44 animals hand-carved by Charles Looff, Solomon Stein, Harry Goldstein and Charles Carmel, is believed by experts at Carousel News and Trader magazine to be one of only three intact carousels of its kind left in the world.
Because of its desirability to collectors, the Wintersteen carousel is expected to fetch a hefty price when it goes on the auction block. Comparable carousels have sold for up to $1.2 million. Updyke estimates the Wintersteens’ could go for $1 million to $1.5 million.
The Brass Ring Fund hopes to raise approximately $1.4 million through grants and corporate and private donations to buy the carousel, Martin said.
The Wintersteens are keeping the carousel’s Wurlitzer band organ and brass ring machine, but will give a “forever lease” to the Brass Ring Fund if it is the successful bidder. If the group does get the carousel, more money will be needed for shelter, security, and finding a suitable public location, Martin said.
There are some different possibilities, including as an added attraction at Hillside Farms, Updyke said.
If the group doesn’t succeed, donors have the option of having their money returned or applied to either The Lands at Hillside Farms or another historical restoration project of their choice, Martin said.
The auction is fast approaching. Martin believes an ideal situation would be if someone lent the Brass Ring Fund the money to bid on the carousel, and then the group can hold fund-raisers and solicit donations to pay it back.
“It would be wonderful to have a full benefactor, but it would also be wonderful to have somebody loan us the money,” she said.
Four generations of family
In 1914, Mary Ann Wintersteen’s late husband Robert’s grandparents, Alfred and Nettie Wintersteen, bought the carousel from the W.F. Mangels Carousel Works of Coney Island. Alfred Wintersteen installed it at the Lehigh Valley Railroad picnic grounds at Harveys Lake. It remained an integral fixture at the park until 1984.
The carousel went to Alfred and Nettie’s daughter, Genevieve Wintersteen Fisk, in 1935. She sold it to Robert D. Wintersteen — her nephew — and Mary Ann, his wife, in 1963. When Robert died in 1981, Mary Ann and their son, Robert Jr., became its owners.
Mary Ann Wintersteen remembers lovingly hand-washing the animals — she had names for each one — every spring after Easter. Young Robert was responsible for the ring machine, making sure people who grabbed the brass ring got their free rides.
In 1987, a few years after the Harveys Lake park closed, the Wintersteens leased it to Old Town, a shopping village in Kissimmee, Florida.
When Old Town went out of business, the carousel next graced International Market World, a giant flea market in Auburndale, Fla. The market’s owner, Vincent To, heard the Wintersteens wanted to bring their carousel home and begged them to let him lease it.
Mary Ann worried about the carousel during its stay in Florida, anxious every time a hurricane hit. The carousel escaped weather-related or vandal damage, but being an “absentee landlord” took its toll on her.
She and Robert went to Florida say their good-byes to their carousel in February. They won’t be attending the auction — they can’t bear to be there, Mary Ann Wintersteen said.
“I just hope it doesn’t leave the country, like to Japan or France,” she said with a sigh as she closed her album.
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coastin
Posts:523
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| 04/06/2008 6:56 PM |
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This is a wonderful carrousel; I was fortunate to ride it at Hanson's Park in the early 1980s and then again at Old Town in Florida in the 1990s. I sure hope it finds a good home, preferably in Northeast PA.
JimA |
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admin
Posts:1517
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| 10/17/2008 3:28 PM |
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Auction postponed by Wintersteens.
“Brass Ring Fund” hopes to “Save the Carousel”
Written by Roland Hopkins
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
Non-Profit “Brass Ring Fund” hopes to “Save the Carousel”
Dallas, PA —Through the auspices of the Luzerne Foundation and Director Charles Barber, a non-profit entity has been formed with a sole purpose in mind—to raise enough money to bring a historic carousel, a priceless heirloom, back to Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The “Brass Ring Fund” is much more than just a fundraising committee, however. The group is passionate about the Hanson’s Amusement Park carousel. This treasured piece of regional history dates back to 1909.
The carousel was purchased by one-time park owner Alfred Wintersteen in 1914, and brought to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Picnic Grounds, where it remained in operation until the park closed (as Hanson’s) in 1984. Afterward, the Wintersteen family, who has notably retained ownership for 93 years, leased the carousel to Old Town, in Kissimmee, Florida, in 1987. In 1996, present owners Mary Ann (widow of Robert D. Wintersteen) and son, Rob Wintersteen, Jr. leased the machine to International Market World, in Auburndale, Florida, where it remains today. Due to the inability to continue as ‘absentee landlords’, and unaware of mounting local interest in the carousel, the Wintersteens signed a contract with Norton Auctioneering agreeing to an on-site auction, in Florida, on April 23.
Meanwhile, Sweet Valley resident Duane Updyke, who is an amusement park ride enthusiast, read about the impending auction and took immediate action. Ironically, as publisher of the Suburban News, he immediately commissioned a series of stories to be written about the carousel and its significance to the history of Harveys Lake and the countless memories of those who were touched by its magic. Hence, the formation of the Brass Ring Fund.
Joining Updyke and his wife, Annette, in the crusade to ‘win back’ the carousel are free-lance writer Elizabeth Martin, of Dallas; and Reverend Roger E. Griffith, of Trinity Presbyterian Church, in Dallas. Coincidentally, Griffith is also a member of ‘Eddie Day and the Original Starfires’, a local band that drew large crowds to Hanson’s Park dances in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
At this juncture through grants, and corporate and private donations, it is critical that the Brass Ring Fund raise approximately $1.4 million. If the group is successful in winning the carousel at auction, additional monies will be necessary to provide shelter and security, in addition to finding a suitable location that will provide public access and enjoyment of the carousel. Should the group be unsuccessful, donors will have the option of having their money returned, or applied to The Lands at Hillside Farms, or the historical restoration project of their choice.
Questions may be directed to a dedicated line at the Suburban News, at 570-477-5196. Donations should be made payable to: The Brass Ring Fund, c/o The Luzerne Foundation, 140 Main Street (2nd floor), Luzerne, PA 18709.
Contact for stories/features, or more information:
Elizabeth Martin, 570-362-2890
www.savethecarousel.com
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