'It's happening any day now'

COEUR d'ALENE - A new generation is close to experiencing the slow, circular joys of riding on the same carousel youths of the Lake City did decades ago.

In the four years since it was given back, all 20 of the original horses from the 1922 Spillman carousel have been housed at Coeur d'Alene Honda - separate from the rest of the machine, which is at a storage facility. It could all come together again soon, due in part to the emergence of a benefactor and a commitment from city officials to securing a property lease in the Four Corners area with the Coeur d'Alene Carousel Foundation.

"It's happening any day now," Cari Fraser, president of the foundation, said of the lease. "And it's a really excellent area for the carousel."

During a special July 9 meeting of the Coeur d'Alene City Council on the Four Corners project, the council unanimously approved a motion to work with the foundation on finalizing a lease agreement. The move was a huge step in the right direction, Fraser said, because finding property for the carousel had been the biggest challenge for the foundation in the four years since the carousel returned to the Lake City.

As one of the most common entry points to the city, Fraser said securing a location on Northwest Boulevard is huge for attracting visitors to the carousel. Being next to another landmark of historical significance, Memorial Field, is also beneficial, she said.

"There are guidelines that the National Carousel Association puts out, as far as what it takes to be a successful location," Sims-Snyder said. "This fits all of them."

"And it's about as close as we can get it to the original Playland Pier," Fraser added.

The carousel was a staple at Playland Pier, near Independence Point, from 1949 until the waterfront amusement park closed in 1973. Its whereabouts for the next decade are unknown, according to Sims-Snyder.

But in 1987, the carousel turned up at an auction in Puyallup, Wash. Duane and Carol Perron - who own and operate the International Museum of Carousel Art in Hood River, Ore. - were at the auction.

Carol, who is originally from Coeur d'Alene, spent her youth at the Playland Pier and convinced her husband to purchase and restore the carousel. Once it was restored, the Perrons leased it to malls and other corporations for events until 2011, when the family reached out to the city to see if anyone was interested in bringing it back to its original home.

Richard Le Francis introduced the Perrons to retired real estate developer John Foote and his wife, Pat, who purchased the machine shortly after for $250,000. Foote then gave the carousel to the city, with instruction that no tax dollars should be spent on a location and building to house the classic piece of machinery.

He also issued a no-interest, no-term loan of $50,000 to help get what would eventually become the Coeur d'Alene Carousel Foundation started.

Fraser said Foote recently died, and it is unfortunate that the Montana native who briefly called Coeur d'Alene home will never get to see the fruits of his generous donation.

"We've been in communication with his wife," Sims-Snyder said. "We have her full support and she knows we have every intention of making sure she gets that loan back."

That's a portion of the funds the group hopes to raise with the help of a benefactor in the community. The individual, who Fraser said the foundation wishes to keep anonymous at this time, has pledged to match as much as $500,000 in funds once ground is broken on the Four Corners location.

He tentatively set a Jan. 1 deadline for the donation, Fraser said, and the foundation hopes to raise at least $250,000 by that date. Those funds will primarily go toward building a new garage for the carousel.

"We are planning a simple carousel garage," Sims-Snyder said. "It's not going to be grand, it's not going to be fancy. But it is going to be recognizable because that is super important."

It's important, she added, because if the carousel was just housed in a traditionally shaped building it wouldn't be readily identifiable and visitors would have to hunt for it. Fraser and Sims-Snyder told The Press that an approximate cost for the building will not be known until the location of the carousel in the Four Corners area has been finalized.

The other purpose of the fundraising campaign is to gain enough capital for operating costs. Fraser said city officials want to see that the foundation has the money to run the machine for at least two years. To get an idea of what it costs to operate a carousel of that size, Sims-Snyder said the foundation has consulted with two operators of similarly sized carousels.

"It could be anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 to operate it seasonally (May through September) with part-time employees and utilities," Sims-Snyder said.

When asked about the four-year timeline of the project, Sims-Snyder mentioned carousel projects in Tri-Cities, Wash.; Missoula, Mont.; and Salem, Ore., that all took more than a decade to come to fruition.

"It has taken a lot of patience, especially with the recent developments," Sims-Snyder said of the foundation's search for a location. "But we are the protectors and keepers of the carousel. It's a part of our history and it's for the kids."