Busy, Busy, Busy:
A day in the off-season.

3/13/06

Well, it's prep time at Conneaut Lake Park right now and that means we're BUSY as ever! One may think the park is a quiet place during the winter, but it's actually quite the contrary. While events are being planned, reservations taken, and season passes sold, rides are being refurbished as part of procedural winter maintenance.

As announced on February 20th, three rides are returning this summer, one being the Tempest (also known as the Witch's Stew). Today I decided to check out the paint shop where the paint crew is putting their artistic talents to work.

After not running for a few seasons, the Tempest cars sure are dusty! Before being reinstalled in the park, the cars are getting some TLC.

Time for a bath! Here, the cars for the Tempest are being scrubbed down with chemicals so they can be painted. Because of the weather (it's snowing at Conneaut Lake Park today!) this step must take place indoors.

Here, Ron Shafer preps the yellow car for painting.

Today I also had a chance to check out one of the horses from our antique Carousel.

Unlike the other Carousel horses, this guy (let's call him Sam) is hanging out in the maintenance office for right now. No, Sam wasn't sent to the office for misbehaving in class; he actually had an injury!

Anyone who owns and maintains an antique carousel knows that sometimes there's no way around it - a horse's limb is going to crack every once in a while.

Due to the size of carousel horses, they are often constructed of laminated pieces of wood...bass wood to be exact. Many pieces of wood are glued together to form one figure. Sam is no exception.

OUCH! Here you can see where Sam's leg joint cracked last summer. A cast won't help here; it's going to need taken apart and completely reglued. No need to worry though, this kind of thing happens and can be repaired pretty easy, that is of course if you are a carousel restoration expert/builder.

We at Conneaut Lake Park owe a great deal of thanks to Mansfield Carousel Works of Mansfield, Ohio who donates their time and efforts to make sure our Carousel is maintained. Soon, Sam will go into their care so that this summer, he's ready to join the rest of his group to perform his job.

Boy is it hard to imagine how many have enjoyed our Carousel since we first installed it here over 95 years ago.

Well, I guess that's enough for now! Oh, and Sam says to stop buy and say "Hi" this summer when he's back in action!

And one more thing I can't forget... stay tuned for some updates about the Tumble Bug which is ready to be let loose after a few seasons of idle waiting!

See you at the lake!