Normally, the genteel carousel represents the least-competitive ride on the midway, but this summer’s Ride 5 program challenges riders to go for a spin on as many Colorado carousels as they can.
Eleven Colorado carousels will offer punch-card coupons from Saturday to Labor Day. A completed coupon qualifies the submitter for a prize drawing that includes luggage, tickets to an Avalanche game, carousel and amusement-park tickets and T-shirts.
To qualify for the drawing, at least three of the five rides must be on one of Colorado’s half-dozen vintage carousels.
1908 Parker combination Lakeside Merry-Go-Round
Lakeside Amusement Park, 4601 Sheridan Blvd., Denver; 50 cents
Reason to ride:
“Not your typical Parker,” observed Carousel News & Trader last year. A rare, three-level platform with unusual carvings in a menagerie that includes donkeys, bears, pigs, rabbits, panthers, a cheetah and a monkey.
1925 Allen Herschell carousel
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, 4250 Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Road, Colorado Springs; $2
Reason to ride:
The mounts are known as “half-and-half” animals — metal legs with wooden bodies and heads.
1911 Parker/Stein & Goldstein carousel
Pueblo City Park, 3455 Nuckolls Ave, Pueblo; 25 cents
Reason to ride:
The large-scale Stein & Goldstein figures on the outside row contrast with the smaller Parker carvings on the inside. During the restoration in the 1980s, Pueblo residents did the paintings featured on the carousel’s core.
Carousel of Happiness on 1910 Looff frame
120 Lakeside Drive (off Colorado 119), Nederland; , opening fall 2009
Reason to ride:
You can’t ride it yet, but they’ll punch your Ride 5 ticket. Scott Harrison’s labor of love features unusual animals, including a gorilla extending a long arm along the top of the bench, making it a little more fun for riders in wheelchairs.
Reproduction fiberglass carousel
Colorado Mills Mall, 14500 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood; $2
Reason to ride:
Designed by Californian Sy Vaks, who creates carousels for malls, this model has 24 animals, including a rabbit and a zebra, and two chariots.
2000 Carousel Works Endangered Species carousel
Denver Zoo, 2300 Steele St., Denver; $2
Reason to ride:
This large carousel — 48 hand-carved animals, plus two chariots — features a mother polar bear and two cubs carved especially for the Denver Zoo.
1920 Herschell Spillman carousel
North Pole Park, 5050 Pikes Peak Highway, Colorado Springs; rides included in admission price
Reason to ride:
This portable carousel features eight original wooden horses and eight metal reindeer (made at the North Pole). Ask the operator to have the organ play some of its vintage (World War I-era) tunes.
1928 Philadelphia Toboggan Co. carousel
Elitch Gardens, 2000 Elitch Circle, Denver; rides included in admission price
Reason to ride:
Look for uber-nationalistic touches, including Miss Columbia, the flags and patriotic motif, reflecting the World War I and postwar sentiments of the original carvers.
1987 Theel reproduction fiberglass carousel
Heritage Square Amusement Park, 18301 W. Colfax Ave., Golden; $2.50 (two tickets)
Reason to ride:
One of a small number of carousels made by Theel, which is no longer in business, it’s newly renovated.
1991 Chance Rides reproduction fiberglass carousel
Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, 4218 Fremont County Road 3A, Cañon City; rides included in admission price
Reason to ride:
The outside row is Bradley and Kaye reproduction from original hand- carved wood animals, and inside and center are Chance/Allen Herschell style animals.
1905 Philadelphia Toboggan Co. Kit Carson County carousel
Kit Carson County fairgrounds, Burlington; 25 cents per ride
Reason to ride:
The carousel’s menagerie features the original paint, and a Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ that’s the only one left in its original condition, housed in the original cabinet and still playing the music it played more than a century ago.
