Casino Pier carousel will be auctioned, possibly in pieces

This breaks my heart. I thought it was one of the most unique, beautiful machines I'd ever seen. I stood there forever watching it, and took a zillion pictures.

I wonder, in the face of the disasters that plagued the boardwalk, if this is purely an effort not only to cut costs but to make huge instant money as well. I cant blame them for needing money, but there's no doubt Casino recognizes what a rare and beautiful piece they have and how important it is to the area.

As the article mentions, this antique somehow managed to survive both the hurricane and the fire. I think it deserves better than a piece meal auction. Will someone, anyone, please, please buy the entire thing and preserve its history somewhere? I know if I could I would.

Really sad to me, the likelihood of the carousel remaining intact is near-zero. Whenever the auction terms are "in pieces or in its entirety," antique carousels are almost guaranteed to be lost forever, since they typically bring in so much more money in parts...

Usually the first offer on the block is the entire ride, then if there's no satisfactory bids then they offer it again in pieces. And ye$$$, that's what they hope for. Dammit.

I'm reminded of when LeSourdesville Lake needed money and auctioned off their antique machine, which I believe might've been a PTC (not sure, I'll try to check) and it went to collectors in pieces. As disappointing as that was, it turned out to be a serendipity as later there was a big fire at the park that burned the carousel building. If it hadn't gone the way it did the whole thing would've been lost.

I hate to think this way, but maybe Casino, given the recent track record, is cashing in while they can and not hedging their bets. And not to wish any further bad luck on those poor people, but it's a shame. It was the one really great thing they had that actually survived.

Sorry for the thread drift, but does anyone else think it's strange how often a struggling amusement park needs money, and has a huge fire?

How many fires has Conneaut Lake Park had now?

The Dodgem Car ride at Camden Park burned down recently, as well as their roller rink many years ago. That park used to be struggling, but nowadays it's hard to tell.

They want a ridiculous amount of money for it considering the current market and it's mechanical condition (yeah they aren't talking about that, rumblings are that they barely passed inspection this year). There are several museum quality rides ready to go as we speak that are being offered for the same amount.