Work to restore Chippewa Park's historic carousel is underway thanks to grants from the federal government and City of Thunder Bay, according to the co-chair of the Friends of Chippewa Park's carousel restoration committee.

On Saturday, the federal government announced it would put $100,000 from its Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program toward the restoration, while the City of Thunder Bay is committing $200,000 to the project (half is coming from existing funds, and the second half will be included in the 2018 municipal budget).

And while Donna Gilhooly, co-chair of the carousel restoration committee, said the total cost of the restoration is likely to be in the $800,000-900,000 range, the funding is enough to get work started.

"Children, parents, grandchildren over the generations have delighted in it," Gilhooly said. "We want to restore it and preserve it for generations to come."

The city-owned carousel is more than a century old, having been built in 1915 by the C.W. Parker Carousel Company, Gilhooly said. It's been at Chippewa Park since 1935.

"It's one of three left in the world," she said. "It's in need of complete restoration. Although it's been well-looked after by the crews at Chippewa, time has really left its mark."

The plan, Gilhooly said, is to completely overhaul the carousel, including its wooden horses and chariots, as well as its mechanical and electrical systems (the lights on the carousel, she said, haven't worked in 40 years). There's also an organ that's in need of restoration.

Horse restoration underway

Saturday's government funding announcement was "thrilling" for the Friends of Chippewa Park, Gilhooly said. Fourteen of the carousel's 28 horses are being professionally restored this winter as part of the first phase.

"We've got major cracks in the horses, joints of legs or the tails are loose," Gilhooly said. "We need to work on it now. I don't think any of us want to wait until we just have to shut the carousel down."

During the restoration, the horses will be "hand-stripped and hand-restored according to heritage standards," Gilhooly said. That will take place over the winter, and they'll be back on the carousel, ready to be ridden, when it opens for the season.

Then, as funding becomes available, more pieces of the carousel will be restored, Gilhooly said.

Work done locally

"There are very few people in North America that can do this kind of restoration work," she said. "Normally, the entire carousel would have to be sent away to an American firm."

However, the Friends of Chippewa Park are working with Lisa Parr, a carousel restoration expert, who's guiding the process. Gilhooly said Parr's involvement means the restoration can be done in Thunder Bay.

Enclosure planned

The Friends of Chippewa Park plan to launch a public fundraising campaign in January to help make up the remainder of the cost of the restoration project, Gilhooly said.

The group also plans to seek funding to build an enclosure for the carousel in the future, Gilhooly said.

"The funding that we've received is for the restoration," she said. "We will seek capital funding to actually house the carousel."

"It should be protected from the elements once it is restored."