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| Prairie Rose Carousel When Roger Jensen and Jim Oliver, Wahpeton, took on the project of finding and restoring an antique carousel, their search took them around the United States. Their hopes were growing dim when a lead came about a carousel in Minnesota. After tracking down the owner of the carousel, Roger Hildebrand, of Pelican Rapids, MN, they were happy to find that the carousel he had was complete and original. All of the machinery and horses were there and in restorable shape. It was purchased and a new search was on for the money and the people who had the talent to restore it. They were fortunate to find Lonnie Halverson and Delores Berg. They were the key artists responsible for the majority of the restoration process. After the 20 plus coats of paint were stripped, the horses were brought to Lonnie. Many of them had to have legs, teeth, tails, saddles, etc., re-carved. In addition, many of them had a case of wood rot. All of the rotten and damaged wood was removed and Lonnie carved new pieces in their place. When the woodwork was done, {estimated to be 60 to 80 hours each} the horses were taken to be painted. Delores painted each of them to have a different personality and flare spending as much as 50 hours on each one. The original plan for the building to house the carousel was a seasonal building designed by Roger Jensen. This gradually evolved to the wonderful year around facility we now have. Construction was started in May 1992 and was made possible with the generous help of the Odd Fellows, Rebekah's, United Way of Richland-Wilkin and numerous others. Countless donations of time and materials enabled them to finish the building and put the carousel together by October 15, 1992. This fully restored 1926 antique carousel is only one of the 150 original wooden horse carousels still operating in the United States. After four years of meticulous restoration of its 20 wooden horses, two chariots, calliope and mechanism, it's open to the public daily Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, located next to the Chahinkapa Zoo. Come and enjoy a ride from the past. |
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