FINAL SPIN
Iconic carousel forged fond childhood memories for many readers,
Some say there’s magic in the antique carousel on Centre Island. You just get on and get swept away by the sound of the organs that has been entertaining children for over a century.
For Al Cochrane, 77, the artist/carver who has restored and maintained the Centreville carousel since he was 29 years old, the magic was in realizing that the carousel is “the most unique piece of art that there is.”
“People had the incredible experience of riding on a piece of art work that’s been created by hand,” he said. “Think of this incredible amusement that is entertaining and a piece of history.”
Cochrane has spent more time with the carousel than, arguably, anyone else. A sign-maker by trade, he was hired by the Beasley family in1980 to repaint some of horses.
Since news of the impending sale of the 110-year-old carousel on Centre Island, Star readers have been la- menting its loss. They’ve sent (and keep sending) memories, photos, videos, hoping to share the joy the ride has given generations of residents and visitors. When Margaret Franklin was 8 years old, her father took her to Centre Island and let her ride the carousel 13 times. “Little did he, or anyone else know what would eventually transpire,” Franklin wrote to the Star.
Franklin fell in love with carousels that day. Twenty-one years after her first experience, she bought an unlimited day pass and rode it again with her best friend for her birthday. They went on the ride 30 times that day, once for each year she had been alive. When Franklin got married, she embroidered carousel-style horses on the skirt of the dress her mom made. Today, she has her own website where she sells carousel-inspired quilts and ornaments.
Yuriy Polevoy, a corporate lender based in Toronto, was inspired by the reaction to set up a crowdfunding page in an attempt to keep the carousel. “People really love it and I just wanted to help them,” Polevoy said.
Every year, Tracie Klaehn takes her three daughters to the island and their love of horses always takes them to the carousel. “Carousels let you dream,” Klaehn said. Their visits inspired a children’s book she selfpublished this year called Centreville Island After Dark.
Shirley Fowley, who created the illustrations for the book, said she spent tons of time researching images of the Centreville carousel to make sure the likeness was authentic, and replicated the feeling of adventure she remembered.
The last illustration in the book is a 9-year-old boy riding the chestnut horse: “Without further thought, he grabbed the reins and was gone, imagining he was riding through the woods on a grand adventure.”
That’s how Ann Josling’s son, Adam, felt every time he rode the carousel. Diagnosed with autism 20 years ago at the age of 2, a visit to the ride was a reward for getting through every visit to the hospital. “We would start each May with opening day and end with closing day,” she wrote to the Star. “The look on his face was always priceless; the world felt happier to him,” Josling wrote.
Cochrane is now busy designing six wooden horses that will be installed in a new, modern carousel.