Carrousel Update--How to run a successful carousel: Euclid Beach’s Carousel Committee’s Proposal

Weirdly colorized postcard from back in the day.

You’ll remember in the July issue, that the Observer ran Councilman Polensek’s letter to Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS), which outlined several points the Councilman felt were important to our Collinwood/Euclid Beach neighborhood regarding the Carrousel. This included asking that members from both our Euclid Beach’s Carrousel Committee and the Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society be made part of their “Cleveland’s Euclid Beach Carousel Society”, and that the Western Reserve Historical Society (and Euclid Beach Park Now) work with the community to place signage at Euclid Beach State Park for the Carrousel.
More than a month later, there has been no response from WRHS to the Councilman’s letter; no one from either Euclid Beach’s Carrousel Committee or the Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society has been contacted.
We very much do want to sit down with WRHS, but at this point the ball is in their court. We want to see the Carrousel properly and historically accurately restored (which will cost the same as not doing so, our research shows), and that our Collinwood neighborhood is recognized for our part in the Carrousel’s history. We have tried contacting them, and will continue to do so and hope that they see that it would be to their advantage to work with us. Until then we wait. Frustrating as it is!

They haven’t announced any specific plans in the more than two months since their announcing their University Circle site. In putting together our own proposal that included two surveys of carousels around the US, we found that there are three key elements to any successful carousel operation: the formula for generating needed income splits three ways: 1/3 carousel operations (including rides, event/party room and gift shop), 1/3 annual fundraising and 1/3 from endowments. This combination is repeated by carousel after carousel we surveyed, as a key to success.
 
First and foremost? You cannot run a carousel solely on ride income! This means there must be other income sources for the carousel operation to be successful. Especially considering that the most you can charge for a ride is $1.00 to at most $2 – and most carousels are in the less-than-a-$1 price range at that (rule of thumb is “no more than the price of a bag of popcorn”.  (Mansfield’s Richland Carrousel charges 75¢ a ride or 3 for $2.) Our projections in 2009 included income from rides being around $60,000 - $65,000 a year, against a total needed income (including all sources) of $200,000 to $220,000. You can see why rides alone can’t support a carousel!

The party/event room is as important as the carousel itself income wise, again, according to our research, talking to other carousel operations. Everything from kids’ parties to weddings, reunions, graduations etc (it’s really endless!) can happen, a carousel makes such a facility unique – and busy. In fact, the one problem carousels reported with their event/party space was that they built too small; we were repeatedly advised to build bigger than smaller! Combine this with a well-run gift shop/concession and things like renting just the machine for “exclusive ride time” for a group or photo ops for weddings, graduations etc (think of a bride up on that Garland Horse!), and that first 1/3 is taken care of nicely.

Fundraising, of course, goes on all year round, to supplement the operations income. This ranges from grants etc to events to raise money for the carousel, from programs to sponsorships (everything on a carousel can be “sponsored” – from the horses themselves, to each light bulb on the sweeps!) to raffles etc. Endowments act as the financial security for the carousel, and need to be recruited to secure a carousel’s future needs, but the carousels we contacted used these as security, not operating funds.

How much of this is included in WRHS’ plan we don’t know. We also don’t know what research they’ve done, or what money they have actually raised. When Dr Rackley spoke at EBPN’s April Open Meeting, he stated that he had seen our proposal (while we have not seen his), and that “It wouldn’t work”; he didn’t explain why not. At that time, his plan depended almost entirely on endowments; materials released at the June press conference, however, mentioned both a ride charge and rentals.

He also has said that WRHS expects the Carrousel to be a money-maker for WRHS. Our research shows that this is not a realistic goal, given the nature of the business. Successful operating carousels mostly break even, showing a small profit, and at that, must be constantly chasing every possible grant etc (“fundraising”!), to supplement income from operations. Carousels are very much a “hands-on” operation.
Meanwhile, our Euclid Beach’s Carrousel Committee has been busy. As we said last issue, we’re not throwing the towel in yet! We’re finding more and more people who prefer our “home” site to the University Circle site, for one thing, which is wonderful! The support we have is amazing – and it’s not just from our neighborhood.

Why don’t you join Euclid Beach’s Carrousel Committee? We need people who can help with everything from website running to grant-writing to research to simply pitching in at events – and ideas. Especially ideas.

If you’re interested, especially in ‘Bringing it home’ then we invite you to come to our regular meetings and “talk Carrousel” and “Euclid Beach!” There are some cool ideas already out there, which you’ll want to be part of. And we’ll have some fun while we’re at it – isn’t that what a Carrousel is all about, after all?
Meetings are every 3rd Wednesday at Arts Collinwood at 6:30 pm. Our next meeting is Sept. Give me a call or email that you’re interested, even if you can’t make it to meetings. Your support is important to us, and we thank you. Come see what we’re doing, and help us do more!

Look forward to hearing from you!

Elva Brodnick, President – Euclid Beach’s Carrousel Committee, PO Box 91162,  Cleveland OH 44101
Email: ebcarrousel@gmail.com or carrollsell@gmail.com, 440–942–1493 Facebook: Euclid Beach’s Carrousel Committee