Chavis Park Carousel.... It's a good thing! (Raleigh, Fletcher: 2014, new house)

[Jaysk8]

Spent a few hours at the Chavis Carousel yesterday and loved it. The park is being renovated and is a wonderful addition to Southeast Raleigh. I spoke with several residents who remember riding the carousel as a kid and the look of their faces as they rode around the carousel briefly was priceless. It reminded me that few attractions can appeal to three generations like a carousel. It revolves counter clockwise, whereas Merry Go Rounds revolve clockwise. The black horse is for good luck and dates back 2,000 years to Roman Chariot Race tradition.

But what really matters to a kid is this:
*I get to choose the horse.
*I get to sit by myself.
*My horse is racing alongside, but is moving Independent of others.
*I notice the details on my horse, like the "Bear" carved into the seat.

Yes, residents of Raleigh will say "$2,000,000 in retrofit costs and they charge a dollar to ride it? That won't even cover the operating costs, not to mention there is another carousel just down the road. What were they thinking?"

True, but memories of your first independence with your parents mean much more.

[sowk09]

Looks great! Now I just need kids so I can go ride it without looking like a creeper .

[tompope]

Yeah, I live sorta near Chavis Park and spend a fair amount of time there, and I heard about the grand re-opening of the carousel in the new carousel house there yesterday, but couldn't attend. I'm not really a carousel person, exactly, but I do think it's cool that they were able to pull it off, and I think the presence of Raleigh's other grand old public carousel in Pullen Park a couple miles away is irrelevant. A couple questions, though, for you, Jaysk8, since you were there yesterday:

You mentioned that "the park is being renovated," but is there actually renovation work besides the new carousel house that's occurring or planned? I hadn't seen anything else happening there, or heard of anything else in the works, but I don't know. I think they were doing some work inside the community center building there last summer, but I'm pretty sure that was just minor. Beyond that, I don't know what it would be. It's a pretty good park the way it is, and generally seems popular and to function well, and it doesn't exactly have a lot of free space for further expansion and development within the park, I wouldn't think. But who knows. It has always seemed to me that for a medium-sized park in the middle of a city, a bit too much of the total area of the park is taken-up by parking lots, with three separate parking areas: one with an entrance off MLK, one off Chavis Way by the old carousel house, and one off Chavis Way by the community center, and then also a section of perpendicular parking on Chavis Way by the baseball diamonds. Considering that there's adequate (though admittedly not abundant) on-street parking within a couple blocks of there, and that an awful lot of people get there by bike or on foot anyway, that seems a little excessive, and that some of that space could be used for something else. But I suppose there are pros and cons. The little swimming pool in the park often seems at or over capacity in the summer, and it would sure be nice if that could be expanded somehow, but that would be enormously expensive and maybe not practical. Likewise, the playground and tennis courts could stand to be expanded, but again, space and budget limitations may make that difficult. Personally, as someone who likes gardens and horticulture, I've sometimes wished that Chavis Park was a little more interesting horticulturally, the way, for example, Pullen and Fred Fletcher Parks are. Again, though, space is a limiting factor, and also much of the central part of the park is covered by those grand old willow oaks, whose shade and roots make extensive landscape plantings tricky. Maybe they could just add some more public art there. I've always really liked that Glimpses of the Promised Land sculpture they've had there for a few years, and adding a few more pieces would be cool, as long as they're well-chosen. And that's not all that expensive, either, in the grand scheme of things.

Also, did you hear anything yesterday (or any other time) about what's going to happen with the old carousel house, that no longer houses the carousel? It's kind of a small, old building that wasn't in great shape structurally, which is why they needed a new house. But it still seems like it could have some value for something, or else if it did get torn-down it could make way for something else, such as one of the features mentioned above. Just wondering.

[evaofnc]

We're thinking about heading out this weekend and skipping the crowds at Pullen. I'm curious if any construction is currently going or if it's still in the "talks" phase of renovation. All I could find really was this: http://www.raleighnc.gov/content/PRe...014March20.pdf