Wildflowers aren’t the only things popping up at Burlington’s City Park, where contractors have recently planted the footings for a new, multimillion-dollar structure to house the city’s antique Dentzel carousel.
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The carousel itself is currently at a specialized workshop in Ohio where it was shipped in 2019 to undergo a complete restoration at a cost of nearly $1.2 million. Rachel Kelly, Burlington’s assistant city manager for administrative services, acknowledged that work on the vintage amusement has fallen somewhat behind schedule due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Ohio had some strict stay-at-home orders,” Kelly recalled in an interview Wednesday, “and they weren’t able to work on the carousel horses for about a month. So, the schedule has flipped from the original schedule.”
Kelly noted that the work on the carousel’s housing has been timed to align with the restoration, which was originally expected to wrap up this spring. Kelly added that the construction of this $2.8 million building has encountered delays of its own due to rain as well as the pandemic and is now slated for completion this fall.
