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Broadway at the Beach Blog

Celebrate National Carousel Day With A Real Original At Broadway at the Beach

July 25 is National Carousel Day, a holiday created to honor the first carousel patented by its inventor, William Schneider of Davenport, Iowa, in 1871.

Celebrate the day with a ride on one of our two carousels – or both.

Located near Capriz at Pavilion Park West, the kids will love riding the beautiful Morgan-Chance carousel made in the mid-1980s.

But while this carousel is a beauty, our other is a real, historic gem.

Built by two brothers-in-law in 1912, our Herschell-Spillman Carousel is located at Pavilion Park East near the Hampton Inn at Broadway at the Beach. There are less than a handful of these wonders still operating in the world, making riding this carousel a truly memorable experience.

Unlike many traditional carousels that showcase only horses, ours has many different animals on it, including frogs, lions, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, roosters and more. The animals are hand-carved out of wood, hand-painted, and have real glass eyes.

Some of the animals on our carousel are rare even for a Herschell-Spillman. For example, our frog (hop toad) is dressed in human clothing and the stork has the image of a baby carved on its side. Other special animals include the ostrich, sea serpent, and the "flag" horses which have the image of the American flag carved on their sides and tails of real horse hair.

At Broadway, history and fun come together on National Carousel Day.