Greenport Carousel Expected To Open Again For Summer Season: Mayor

GREENPORT, NY — The Greenport carousel, considered the gem of Mitchell Park to countless families and visitors, has been closed until further notice since the end of September — but hope is in sight. Greenport Village Mayor Kevin Steussi told Patch Thursday that the carousel should be open again in time for the summer season.

"The village has made significant progress on the effort to rebuild the historic carousel," Steussi said. "This is the first time the carousel has been completely disassembled since it was originally placed in the pavilion when Mitchell Park opened nearly 25 years ago."

He added: "The final piece, which is currently being repaired, is the center structure, and we anticipate receiving that back for installation in a few weeks. Once that is placed back inside the pavilion, the remainder of the carousel will be able to be reassembled, including many pieces which have been newly fabricated. Each of the horses has also been structurally rebuilt and sit in storage awaiting their return. We are looking forward to reopening the historic carousel for the summer season!"

Greenport Village Trustee Julia Robins had also said at a candidate forum that the carousel could be open again by Memorial Day, but the mayor could not confirm that exact date, which is dependent upon when the work on the center structure is complete.

In September, according to a statement issued by Steussi, a mechanical failure on the village carousel occurred.

"It’s been determined by the village that the failure is significant and will require extensive repairs to get the carousel operational again," he said at the time. "The village had already planned extensive mechanical review and repairs after Christmas and New Years in early 2025, during a quiet month, but will now need to accelerate those plans. Consequently, the carousel will be closed for some period of time for repairs before reopening."

Steussi reminded that the ride was originally designed as a traveling carousel and had to be assembled and taken down.

During its many years in Mitchell Park it has never been disassembled, since being placed in the carousel pavilion at opening, Steussi said.

"We have a world-renowned carousel specialist who is coming to Greenport to evaluate repairs in the coming weeks, at that time we will be able to better gauge needed work," the mayor said in the fall, adding: "The time it will require to do the work is going to be significant and even in the best case scenario a reopening by Christmas will take extraordinary work and coordination with multiple trades."

The carousel's progress was also discussed at a Greenport village board meeting on February 27. Steussi said at that time that the main center structure was being repaired at North Fork Welding.

At that meeting, Stuessi mentioned potential county funding to help mitigate costs. He also said there was good news for the horses. "You can imagine over the course of 100 years plus, some of the horses were 110 years old and some of them might have been 50 years old — over time different things happen."

All the different types of bolts and screws were removed, and the restoration crew made sure that the horses are "now solid and not flexible in any way; the pieces are all put together very strongly." When they were reassembled, a process was used so that now, only one tool is needed to assemble the horses, something that will be helpful in the long term, he said.

"And then, as we mentioned before, they have taken one horse up to their shop to do a complete restoration on it so that we could have it showcased somewhere potentially for longer term fundraising — so people can look at the work on the horses, see the beauty of all of them," Steussi said at the meeting.

The fundraising discussion will be held by the carousel committee, the mayor said, adding that he'd like to see a maintenance plan developed.

In 2016, as new artwork was unveiled on the carousel's rounding boards, former Greenport Village Mayor David Kapell was thanked by Gail Horton of the carousel committee for his vision in creating Mitchell Park and bringing the carousel to Greenport from Riverhead.

The carousel had stood for years on the former Grumman property in Calverton and was enjoyed by scores of employees at Grumman's annual picnic,

The carousel is a 1920 Herschell-Spillman wooden carousel, and it was a gift to Greenport that brought joy to the community, including a sea of elementary school students who, under the direction of former Greenport Schools Superintendent Charles Kozora, wrote letters to Mr. Grumman asking for the carousel to be brought to the village, Kapell said.

"It was a great community effort," Kapell said, of the move. The carousel, stored at Stidd Systems in Greenport, was assembled in just a few hours. And then, he said, with electric needed, resident Bill Swiskey was called over on a Sunday to "jury rig" the carousel and get it running for its first go-round in the village.

The carousel, Kapell said at the event in 2016, symbolizes the past and future hope of Greenport.

"It's a wonderful thing. Eventually, every one of these kids that have ridden the carousel will have kids and bring them right back here. It sows the seeds for the future of the village."

Since the carousel first illuminated the night in the village, Kapell estimated in 2016 that approximately 2 million riders had hopped onto a bedecked wooden horse and taken their turn reaching for the brass ring.

Remembering his own childhood spent on the Central Park carousel, Kapell said the beautiful painted horses, lights and music create indelible forever memories imprinted on hearts and souls. The carousel, he said, "is a fantasy, in a kid's mind. It's magical."

When the carousel first arrived in Greenport, an array of residents turned out to help, including current Trustee Robins. Over the years, the carousel was stored not just at Stidd but also at Barstow's Shipyard and at the corner of Front Street, Horton said.

When he was elected in 1994, Kapell said his first aim was to dismantle the village's controversy-mired police department and then focus on the blighted Mitchell property, which was "in foreclosure, with a bank that was also in foreclosure."

The parcel, he said, held promise.

"There was amazing possibility," Kapell said. And with the Grumman property for sale, and all eyes on the future of that parcel, Kapell said his laser focus was solely on bringing the carousel to Greenport as a gem in the crown of all Mitchell Park could possibly become.

How it evolved, he said, was "serendipitous."

Remembering the early days, Robins said blankets were brought to carry all pieces together for assembly; she then described how the carousel is physically constructed. Originally, she said, the carousel was used as part of a traveling circus and erected in a field at every stop.

Horton said, simply, that those early days, when passion and vision brought a dream to life in the form of a carousel at the heart of the village, were unforgettable.

"It was magical," she said.