Volume 2, No. 6. March 22, 2002
New Arrivals
It's a carousel!
The Dallas Zoo in Texas
announces the arrival of its Endangered Species Carousel, March 11, 2002. Measurements:
36-foot diameter (11 meters), 30 figures representing 16 species. Delivered
by Chance Rides.
On the day its new carousel was to open, the Dallas Zoo was closed. More than
650 local dignitaries and guests had committed to attending the March 2 opening
gala, but zoo officials canceled on the eve of the event thanks to a weather
forecast—accurate, it turned out—of sub-freezing temperatures and
snow.
Rescheduled for a week later, the ribbon-cutting ceremony still took place under
chilly skies and "a wind like you would not believe," said Ellen Villeneuve,
the zoo's public information officer. Even so, about 200 guests and members
of the media showed up for the first official rides, a celebration that featured
a "carnival buffet" of midway food, such as caramel corn and hot dogs. The weather
was still cool and windy when the carousel opened to the public the following
Monday, but it registered 401 riders at $2 per ride. On Tuesday the air warmed
to the mid-70s and the number of riders surpassed 600.
Other than a monorail safari, this is the Dallas Zoo's first ride. The $800,000
capital improvement project, funded by a 1998 City of Dallas bond program, included
the custom-built carousel, a shed, benches and stroller parking. This endangered
species carousel features two unique creatures. One is an okapi, a tip of the
hat to Dallas Zoo's successful breeding program of the giraffe's Congo cousin.
This figure represents the first okapi Chance has made for its carousels. The
second unusual figure is a triceratops, an animal who was last listed as "endangered"
several epochs ago. "We wanted to use this as something to educate the public
as well as give them a fun ride," Villeneuve. "We're saying that this could
be the only place that your children's children could see these animals. That's
one of the reasons we have the triceratops: we're showing what could happen
to the others."
