Carousel fan starts fundraiser

Over the Memorial Day weekend a fundraiser was hosted at the W.E. “Bill” Mason Carousel in Oak Meadow Park. The 32-horse ride is starting to show its age and a devoted fan’s suggestion sparked the idea of an adopt-a-horse program.

“We have some horses that have not be touched up at all since they came into operation in 1991 after the long restoration process, but they definitely need the touch ups,” said Francesca B. Alexander, Chief Executive Officer of the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. “We are currently working through restoring all of the horses that have not been touched up, so we will be doing two horse restorations per year.”

Donors to the program will be helping to pay for much-needed work such as stripping off of old paint layers and adding new ones.

The idea for the adopt-ahorse program came from a Los Gatos resident who frequently walks in the park. One day she stopped by and asked if it was possible to adopt a carousel horse. At that time the staff had not considered such a possibility, but they discussed it with the board of directors and then formed a committee which later created the program.

Donors can participate on two levels: The galloper package or the jumper package. Galloper package is $250 and donors receive a certificate of adoption, a carousel tour and photo with the adopted horse, including a letter acknowledging the tax-deductible donation. The Jumper package is a $500 donation and donors receive the same gifts at the galloper level, but they also get a ride card for the carousel for one year of rides on their adopted horse.

The collection of wooden horses within the carousel have names such as Silver, Becky, Spirit, Socks, Champ, Jerry, Ella and Scout.

The original carousel was built in 1910 by Savage Carousel in England and shipped to the U.S. for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. It later spent time in a small traveling circus, before going into storage in 1967 in Redwood City.

In July, it will be 108 years old.