The Birth of the Carousel

You thought nine months was long? How about nine years? Conception- to- birth of the LARK Carousel was a full nine years. The annual U.S. birth rate for hand carved carousels is about zilch, with probably well under fifty carousels created in the last fifty years. But, after nine years of carrying and carving our LARK baby with all of the ups and downs of any creative project, we are almost there.

For one hundred and eight months, many of you've watched the carving studio swell with each successive animal, observing and photographing as body parts, features, and colors were added, 'til suddenly, you knew what it was going to look like, since there is no family resemblance to any other carousel. This is a first generation of figures, whimsical and intricately carved. Definitely a one-of-a-kind project.

Certainly there have been the moments of panic common to all soon-to-be-parents: are we ready to take care of it when it arrives? Are we going to be able to raise it until it can be independent? Will we have any life of our own once it's here? But like all babies, when they're ready, they come, ready or not. Questions don't hold them back.

The stork turned out to be a Ryder truck with a tech crew of two from Ohio. Typical of babies, they arrived at three a.m. It took four doctors, twenty nurses, and five specialists to keep tabs on the healthy formation of the animals and the mechanism through all these years. Some assembly was required and it took a jolt of 3-phase to move it for the first time.

This baby will weigh in initially at about 23,500 pounds, have a diameter of thirty feet, feature twenty different personalities, and nurse at an NSP meter. Like many growing youngsters, its weight will yo-yo over time.

Feel free to watch the carousel take its first breaths of air and electricity. Come and ride! There is still time to take out a Lifetime Pass and become the sort of financial godparent to help the Lark carousel pay delivery costs.

For the next year we will nurture and dress it up until it becomes a grown up carousel with lights, rounding boards and skirts. we will polish its brass 'til it shines and keep the hickory sweeps clean and dry. Then it will truly be able to turn on its own for the many years of the rest of its life.

Each animal was created to retain its childlike eagerness and enthusiasm for fun, but we know that there will be bumps and bruises on each of the animals as it gets older, and some days it may even want to take a nap in the middle of the working day.

The LARK animals will see their childhood riders grow up, move away, change jobs, and return looking a little older, but the Carousel itself will never grow up or move away. It will be photographed, copied, filmed, discussed after breakfast and before bedtime.

The wooden eyes and ears will see and hear little people and big ones, love and laughter, and many significant family milestones. Fond memories will begin here and continue on through many generations.