Final fantastic carousel beast to debut in parade
POTTSTOWN >> The Hippocampus is a fantastic beast from Greek mythology, harnessed to draw the chariot of Poseidon, God of the Seas.
This magnificent imaginary creature, half horse/ half porpoise, is nowhere to be found on the planet ... except for Pottstown.
The Carousel at Pottstown will premier its newest ride attraction during the Independence Day Parade, July 4, starting at 10:30 a.m.
The Hippocampus will be featured on a 30-foot float as it makes it’s way down High Street. Before the parade is over, it will be mounted on The Carousel at 30 West King St., awaiting its first riders.
Board member and carousel technician B.J. Peterman engineered the ingenious plan for the swift placement.
The Hippocampus was created by Master Carver Ed Roth of Los Alamitos, California, who carves for the Disney theme parks and restores carousels for clients including the Smithsonian Institute. He carved all of the animals on The Carousel at Pottstown.
The carving features a trident carrying mermaid swimming with the elaborately posed animal and was painted by local Carousel at Pottstown volunteer Alan MacBain, who will accompany it in the parade.
MacBain is a Collegeville artist who also has worked as a freelance editorial cartoonist for The Mercury for 34 years.
The Hippocampus is the last attraction to be placed on the carousel and the last of many to be painted by MacBain. Rather than just fill in colors, he chose to illustrate the sculpture as a story unto itself.
“There are all those great young person novels about girls and their horses, so that’s what this is. You can find several clues painted on the ride that indicate the strong bond between the mermaid and her companion,” MacBain said.
“That theme also allowed some minor tweaks. The armor plating on the Hippocampus isn’t painted to look like metal, it’s made of sea shells. And it sports a marble saddle, suitable for a Greek God’s bottom”, said MacBain.
The carousel animals are made of basswood planks butcher blocked together.
Once delivered in raw wood form, all needed to be vigorously sanded and painted with four coats of primer before being fine sanded again. Oil paints are hand brushed for the decorative colors before a protective clear coat is applied.
More than 200 hours were spent on each animal, but the Hippocampus boasts a few more.
During the parade, volunteers will be handing out coloring flyers to children along the route. Bowls of crayons will be provided on all the tables at The Carousel and once the flyers are colored, they become a ticket for a free ride.
The Carousel will offer an Independence Day Special of $1 rides and will remain open until the evening fireworks display. Manatawny Green, now operated by The Carousel, will offer games at $5 per player until 6 p.m.
The Carousel at Pottstown is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, dedicated to the revitalization of the Pottstown region.
Volunteers spent more than 18 years restoring the 1905 Philadelphia Toboggan Co. Carousel Number 9, opening to the public in December of 2016.