Last Updated on August 29, 2016 by cassnetwork
BY MICHELLE DIALS for Cass County Communication Network
A new festival this month will showcase one of Cass County’s treasures.
The inaugural “Carousel Festival in the Park” will be held Aug. 26 and 27 at Riverside Park in Logansport.
The Cass County Dentzel Carousel was originally located in Robison Park in Fort Wayne. According to the carousel’s website, when the park closed in 1919, the carousel was purchased by a Fort Wayne resident who shipped it to Logansport and placed it in Spencer Park. The carousel changed owners several times and in 1949, it was moved to Riverside Park, where it operated until its owner’s death in 1969. In 1972, fearing that the carousel would be sold and removed from the community, the Logansport Jaycees raised $21,000 during a radio-thon. They purchased the carousel for $15,000 and used the remaining money to start the non-profit Cass County Carousel, Inc. The Carousel was named a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It was completely restored in 1993 and in 1995, the McHale Complex was built to enclose the carousel.
Maintaining the carousel and the building that houses it is an expensive responsibility that falls to the Cass County Carousel, Inc.
Linda Baldwin is on the board of directors for the Cass County Carousel and says planning for the event began about a year and a half ago. She says the idea grew from board members looking for ways to bring attention to the carousel.
“People don’t realize what we have, take it for granted or don’t see it,” she says. “If we have a festival, it will be helping the park, the city, the county, the state. We’re only one of two in all of the U.S. that have an original, still intact Dentzel Carousel.”
The Carousel in the Park Festival on August 26 and 27 will honor the creator of Logansport’s “moving work of art.” Members of the fourth generation of the Gustav A. Dentzel family have been invited to attend and will be honored during a historical presentation Saturday morning. William Dentzel is also scheduled to make a presentation Saturday afternoon. Organizers will also pay tribute to Matthew T. Beneduce McGrath, who created the carousel’s hand-carved sign. McGrath, a Logansport native, was killed in a hit and run accident in June near his studio in Verona, NJ.
In the meantime, Baldwin, the carousel board of directors and the festival committee have been working alongside numerous volunteers to get Riverside Park ready to host a festival that organizers are hoping could draw as many as 6,000 people.
Baldwin says the festival will offer activities that will allow people to attend on Friday night and come back and spend the day Saturday.
The entertainment will include two BMX shows on Friday and three on Saturday, K9 Frisbee Shows, baton twirlers, a magician, a ventriloquist and costumed characters. There will be a 5K, a basketball tournament, a car show and a horseshoe tournament. Entertainment including the Logansport Drum Line, Peru Circus Band, clowns and a balloon artist will perform on two stages. Railroaders will be recognized Saturday morning at a Masonic railroad breakfast.
Baldwin says more than 40 craft vendors from all over the United States will be in attendance. There will be an Army obstacle course, archery, a Hummer display by the Marines and a display from Grissom. Crafts for kids will be located in two large tents and one of the Midwest’s larger farm petting zoos will also be in attendance. There will be pony rides, canoe rides and a dunk tank featuring local celebrities.
Admission to the festival is free, with $1 tickets required for certain activities, including rides on the Cass County Dentzel Carousel and the historic miniature train. The softball field will be dubbed “Performance Field” and admission will be 2 tickets for adults and 1 for children.
The annual Shrine Frolic will be taking place the same weekend and Baldwin said William Dentzel will be a guest in the Shrine Frolic Parade on Saturday afternoon.
Parking in Riverside Park will be by permit only, for vendors and performers, but parking and shuttles will be available at various locations throughout the community, including the Logansport Mall, Cass Plaza, Memorial Hospital, Life Gate Church, Logansport Church of Christ, the Downtown Senior Center and the High Street Fire Station parking lot. Baldwin says the schedule will be available online.
The Carousel in the Park runs from 4-9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26 and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 at Riverside Park in Logansport. More information is available at casscountydentzelcarousel.org or on the Carousel’s Facebook page. The schedule of events can be downloaded here.
