Jeffrey Bailey, Acting Assistant Director of Riverfront Park, No Phone Number Available
Friday, July 17, 2015 at 11:25 a.m.
Photo courtesy: Gary Nance
Saturday, July 25th, 2015 is National Carousel Day. We invite you down to Riverfront Park on July 25th to ride and celebrate our carrousel, a National and Spokane treasure!
Riverfront Park's 1909 Looff Carrousel is on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of America's most beautiful and well preserved hand-carved wooden carrousels. Our Looff Carrousel proudly features 54 horses, 1 giraffe, 1 tiger, and 2 Chinese dragon chairs and a brass ring to catch!
The Carrousel was completed and installed in Natatorium Park in 1909 as a belated wedding present from Charles I.D. Looff, to his daughter, Emma, and son-in-law, Louis Vogel. In 1964, Bill Oliver became the manager of Natatorium Park, which closed in 1967. All of the rides were sold, except for his beloved carrousel, which was put into storage until 1975. It was Bill Oliver's dream to keep the ride in action. In the spring of 1975, the move to Riverfront Park started. The carrousel opened on May 8, 1975 in Riverfront Park, and has been operating since then.
National Carousel Day was created to honor the 1871 carousel patented by William Schneider. While he is commonly considered the official inventor of the modern carousel, he was actually the first person to obtain a patent for it.
As part of our celebration, we are planning to have:
On July 25th, the Carrousel will open at 9 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.
We are also hosting a local Facebook group, “You're probably from Spokane if you remember…”, who will be accepting donations on behalf of Northwest Harvest. Summer is a challenging time for the food banks. If you would like to help support your local community, please bring your non-perishable food items to Riverfront Park on July 25th. The group will be set up near the carrousel, and they will be happy to pass your donations on to Northwest Harvest.
Would you like to know about upcoming events at Riverfront Park? Sign up for our electronic newsletter.
We hope to see you on National Carousel Day!
P.S. – Did you know, that the name of each horse is painted on the inside bridle?
For more information on our Carrousel, please visit these sites:
Please note: For the safety of our younger guests the minimum height requirement is 42 inches unless accompanied by an adult. Children 2 and under ride free, with a paid adult.
