If there were Guinness World Records entries for the most years a carousel sat in storage, or the amount of time elapsed between someone riding on one, they almost would surely say “Solar-Powered Buffalo Heritage Carousel.” The wooden menagerie park-style carousel, which began its fourth season at Canalside this month, turns 100 this year – an even century since Italian immigrant Domenick DeAngelis purchased the attraction in 1924 from a company in North Tonawanda, 13 miles from its current home. Now fully restored, the carousel at Canalside will open as a hallmark attraction on Memorial Day weekend.
Beginning in 2017 and at various poi...
The carousel didn’t operate for 67 consecutive years, 63 of them spent in storage. The inactivity began in 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in his first term of office, and ended 12 presidents later with Joe Biden in the White House.
That’s when the meticulously restored carousel, powered by Tesla solar roof panels and not electricity, reopened as a waterfront attraction in 2021. “Carousels have a universal appeal, and, remarkably, something popular in 1954 is just as popular in 2024,” said State Sen. Sean Ryan, who played a leading role in bringing the carousel to the waterfront.
“The carousel brings families of all incomes to Canalside,” Ryan said. Amy Klosko enjoys a ride on the Buffalo Heritage Carousel. Buffalo Heritage Carousel Inc.
, a nonprofit, owns, operates and maintains the carousel. The new season h.
