Michigan - September 22, 2012; then home

After yesterday's late night, the day began far too early; the buses left at 7:30 a.m.  At least we're scheduled to get back early -- in time to get ready for the concluding banquet.

We arrived at Grand Rapids Public Museum about 9 o'clock.  After a group picture (why, I'm not sure), we were split into two groups.  While one group rode the carousel, the rest of us were able to tour the museum; then we switched.  

I was charmed to find a Grand Rapids Yesteryear exhibit which was similar to, and larger than, the Yesterday's Main Street at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry that I had loved as a child.  I think I enjoyed it, not only because of the interesting (weird) stores but because I could run back and forth across the "street" on my own which as a young child of 4 and 5 I was not allowed to do for real.  So this exhibit unloosed lots of nostalgia.

The carousel, a 1928 Spillman Co. creation, was acquired by the museum and put into its own pavilion in 1981.  The momentum to acquire this carousel was created by the loss of the community's beloved carousel at Ramona Park.

Instead of a lead horse, this carousel has a lead goat -- a rather happy looking fellow.

Because the skeleton of a whale became a symbol of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, when a replacement figure was needed for the carousel, everyone agreed it had to be a whale.

The giraffe is my favorite animal, and I hadn't ridden on one yet this trip.  Unfortunately, giraffes are always standers (don't go up and down) so are not as much fun as other animals; at least they're often on the outside row.

The entire city is involved with an annual festival, ArtPrize, which brings in sculpture from all over the world, most of it located downtown in public places.  This installation was in the river right outside the windows of the carousel pavilion.

The only location for ArtPrize not downtown is a short drive away at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park to which our buses took us next.  I didn't like most of the ArtPrize work on display but enjoyed some of the other sculpture.  Unfortunately, the weather was a bit chilly and  windy so I didn't do too much of the outdoor gardens/sculpture but did make sure to see The American Horse sculpture by Nina Akamu.  She created an 8 foot working model of the sculpture titled Homage to Leonardo and a 15 inch version to serve as a touchable model.  The final version is 24 feet tall and quite impressive.

There was a delightful Children's Sculpture Garden that I really liked.  A lot of fun sculpture that kids, and adults could enjoy.  This one is Children of the World by Kirk Newman.  Kids could run and play among the sculptures.

 The conservatory was fine, but not as spectacular as the one in Como Park in St. Paul.

And the Chrysanthemum display, while pretty, was nowhere near as impressive as the Como flower shows are (agreed to by all the St. Paul convention representatives.)







A few of the group were grumbling at this long (2 1/2 hr.) stay at a site with NO carousel, but I thought this was a worthwhile sight that anyone going to Grand Rapids should see.  With sunshine and temperatures a bit higher, it would have been great.

Onto the bus (with box lunch) for the drive to Windmill Island Park in Holland, Michigan.  This park attempts to create a little bit of Holland through windmills and a Dutch streetscape.

The carousel is about 100 years old, imported from the Netherlands in 1971.  It is a children's carousel so only two of the convention attendees were young enough to ride.  

It has 28 horses, all standers, and a few other animals, the smaller ones probably incorporated from another carousel at some point in its history.  The painted murals were restored by a local artist in 2002-03 and look quite nice.

A few of the horses have been refurbished and look good

But others are in need of a lot of repair.  One even  had a missing ear.  The Carousel Association gave a small grant to the carousel to help with their restoration efforts and one of our members who does repair/restoration volunteered to do two of their horses for free.

We left Holland and got back to St. Joseph about 4:30 with enough time to rest for a bit, take a shower and get ready for the final event of the day, the dinner and silent and live auctions.  For that we went back to the Silver Beach Carousel where the convention had begun on Wednesday.

This is the view of Lake Michigan from the front of our hotel as we began the walk down to the carousel.

As we walked we saw the Carousel in the daylight and then, after dinner as we left, saw it lighted for night.

And a final look at the horses of the Silver Beach Carousel

After a reasonable night's sleep, on Sunday morning (9/23) my roommate Marcia and I walked down to the Amtrak station just below the hotel and near the carousel to catch the train to Chicago.  It was about half an hour late, but that didn't matter because we had a long layover in Chicago.  Had lunch at the Union Station food court and got on the train a little after 2 p.m.  It left on time and, amazingly, arrived in St. Paul on time -- 10:30 p.m.  Marcia and I had a lovely, if expensive, dinner in the dining car, did some chatting, a little reading, and even some snoozing for the 8-hour trip.  So by 11:15 on Sunday I was safely home but feeling lonely because Katy and Jackson were both still with their caregivers so I had no four-footed furries to keep me company.

Michigan - September 21, 2012

The title of this blog post is a bit misleading since we left the Michigan hotel (at 8:45 a.m.) and drove through Indiana to Illinois where we spent the day at two Chicago area locations.  The first was Brookfield Zoo, a place I remember visiting with family as a child.  Memory was also stimulated as, just before arriving at the zoo, we passed Riverside-Brookfield High School where I did my student teaching in 1966!  It was that experience which resulted in my deciding I did not want to be a teacher despite having spent my college years preparing for that profession.  So nostalgia was a key element in the first part of the day.

The Brookfield carousel is a new one (2006), an endangered species carousel which features animals at the zoo and/or those which are endangered so serves as an easygoing environmental lesson as well as a fun activity.  Because I enjoy zoos, I also made the effort to see some of the animals and found the pairing of real and carousel animals to be fun.

  

 

In addition to appreciating the carousel animals I had seen at the zoo, there were a number of other cute and charming animals represented.

Grabbed some lunch at the zoo to eat on the bus as we headed to our next destination.

We arrived at Sanfilippo in Barrington Hills, an upper, upper class suburb of Chicago, about 1 p.m.  This is a mansion, more akin to a European palace than a suburban home.  The building is 44,000 square feet, located on 57 acres.  Jasper Sanfilippo, son of a Sicilian immigrant, figured out how to mechanize the shelling of nuts and his company is now second only to Planters in the nut processing business.  Having made millions, he has been able to indulge his hobbies in a spectacular manner.  His love affair with musical machines began in the mid 1970s when he visited Knott's Berry Farm and  Disneyland which displayed nickelodeons and band organs.  He was captivated by their mechanical ingenuity as well as their music.  His collection now ranks among the largest in the world, ranging from Victrolas to all kinds of music boxes, mechanical organs, automatic pianos, and similar items.

                                          This is the grand stairway from the entryway to the house.

I was fascinated by the record players disguised, and used, as lamps.

 The centerpiece of his musical collection is the largest Wurlitzer pipe organ in existence housed in a music room which is 120 feet long, 64 feet wide, 42 feet tall and containing a balcony.  The basic organ was built in 1927 for the Riviera Theatre in Omaha.  It has been expanded to 80 ranks of pipes and also has a 32-note set of Tower Bells hung on each side of the room.  Our group was given an organ recital, the last part of which was accompaniment to a Laurel & Hardy silent film.  Great fun.

While all of this was fascinating, the primary reason for the NCA visit was the 1890 Eden Palais carousel which toured in France from 1890 through 1959.  It was in storage in several places in the U.S. until 1987 when Sanfilippo purchased it and built a separate carousel building near the mansion to house it.  We had a few peeks at the carousel during dinner which was served in the carousel building and then got to ride -- unfortunately most of us only one time because loading/unloading took a long time, and the bus had to leave by shortly after 7 for the return trip to Michigan (and loss of an hour in the time zone change).

Originally operated by steam engines (which have been restored), the carousel is now run by electric motors.  It is 46 feet in diameter, has 36 hand-carved horses, four ornate rocking gondolas, and a spinning lovers' tub.  It is incredibly ornate and gorgeous -- if a bit bumpy to ride.

The entry to the carousel is through an 89' by 42' carved facade with life-sized carved horses, giant art glass butterflies, a painting recreating an original that hangs in the Louvre, and a beautiful etched-glass entryway.  It was in front of this facade that tables were set up, and we ate our dinner.

When we arrived back at the St. Joseph hotel, it was almost 11:30, and I fell into bed, barely taking the time to undress.  Carousel conventions are not for the weak of body or spirit. . . .