The Carrousel

for June, from Teri

The floor is made of old oak, varnished to a brilliant shine that reflected the hot sun on it's surface. It was the same merry-go-round that Mary Elitch bought in 1925 for her amusement park in the outskirts of Denver. By the time I was a small child in the early 60's, that Merry-go-round had given joy to generations of families. Elitch's, as I remember it, was a huge park with enormous old oak trees that shaded the walkways, green grass everywhere you looked, colorful flower beds and a rickety old wooden roller-coaster, painted white, that was off limits to us for many of our younger years. I used to stand on my tip-toes trying to reach the line, hoping against all hopes that the attendant wouldn't notice I wasn't really tall enough to ride it, and when I finally got on it, it was the thrill of my life. I was sure I was going to fly out of it... no seat belts back then, just a bar to hang on to, and I wasn't sure I was strong enough to stay there, but I made it through the experience, with the muscles in my arms aching and my heart beating a million miles an hour.

That was then, but through the years, Mary Elitch grew old, and her children went on to other ventures. She eventually sold the park to Six Flags. By then I had moved to Mexico, or Ecuador or Chile and it wasn't until I came back this time that I heard that Six Flags had dismanteled the roller coaster and the Merry-Go-Round and moved them to their current location. The park no longer has the green grass, or the enormous old trees that give shade in the hot sun, and it looks more like Disney World than the park I remembered, but there were some of the smaller kiddie rides that I'm sure are the same ones I rode when I was 4 or 6 or 8 years old: the bumper cars, the little boats that go around in a circle on the water, about 12 inches deep, the little airplanes that barely move up and down. The water park is new. Elitch's never had water slides or wave pools... just sno-cones to cool us off, but then I don't remember it getting up to 103 degrees here when I was little. Global warming, or too much pavement, who knows which?

But there was the carrousel, with it's oak floors. It no longer had the door open in the middle where you could see the perferated paper scrolling through the machine with all the little metal spikes that made the pipe organ sounds, and there was no longer an attendant in the center who lifted the large lever to make the carrousel go around and the horses start to go up and down. It's probably all digitally controlled, but if it is, you (thankfully) can't see it. It still has the same colorful horses, the chariots that don't move, and the same hand-painted flowers on the panels under the lights in the center. Perhaps it was the same green horse I rode today that gave me so much joy as a small child. Some things should never become obsolete and forgotten. My mother climbed up on the horse next to me, just like she used to when I was little. Perhaps it was a bit harder to lift her leg over the rear flank of the horse, but she insisted on it and rode that beige horse next to mine, fighting neck and neck for the finish line! My son, age 12, was on the other side of her also vying for first place in the race!

And so, we spent the day in the hot sun, reminiscing and sharing our silent memories, as well as making family ties stronger and carrying on traditions that I hope will last a long time!

 

--July, 2001, Denver, Colorado