Mayor Phillips calls Wednesday press conference to announce major development on the Carousel Project
KINGSPORT ‚¬ Mayor Dennis Phillips has called a press conference at noon Wednesday at the Farmers Market in downtown Kingsport to announce a major new development in the Carousel Project. The press and public are invited to attend the event.
The Carousel Project is a volunteer effort founded by the late Gale Joh, who grew up in New York state in a community that was home to several carousels. Gale wanted to bring such a feature back to his adopted hometown of Kingsport. As Gales illness progressed, Reggie Martin, a fellow Kiwanis member, agreed to spearhead the development, along with three other Kiwanis members, calling themselves the four horsemen.
Gales wife, Alderman Valerie Joh, joined the project as well, assisting in all aspects including carving and fundraising, in an effort that has grown to include hundreds of volunteers.
Many have since undertaken the task of learning how to carve life into the blocks of wood that are being transformed into a menagerie of colorful Carousel animals.
In all, the project has involved hundreds of volunteers who have carved and painted animals, rounding boards and other elements, as well as mechanics who helped restore the vintage 1956 Herschel frame the carousel rides on.
The Carousel Project is a perfect example of what the community can do when it puts its mind towards a goal, Mayor Dennis Phillips said Monday. The folks who founded this project were not even artists, and certainly not wood carvers, when they started. They went to work, developed the skills and are fast at work completing a project that will be a centerpiece of the community for decades to come.
Each completed animal requires more than 600 hours of carving. Volunteer animal painters and rounding board painters go through special training in order to achieve dazzling effects that will highlight the animals and the Carousel frame itself.‚ It is estimated that more than 200 people will have participated in the project in some manner by the time the Carousel is completed in the spring of 2014.
In addition, donations to the project have been generous, with the more than $260,000 raised in contributions towards the $500,000 goal since the project began. For more about the project, please visit arts.kingsporttn.gov or engagekingsport.com.