Big ol’ huge news to report this week, as it appears lovers of the Tennessee Foxtrot Carousel are finally getting their precious ride back.
Wait, what? A carousel? In Nashville? How did I miss this?
Courtesy of Nashville Public Radio:
WPLN has been keeping track of the carousel, which is the work of the Nashville-born artist Red Grooms, since 2016, when we found it in the care of the Tennessee State Museum.
Now, it appears steps are being taken toward getting it up and running again.
But first, a bit of background: The carousel spun in downtown Nashville for just five years — from 1998 to 2003 — but it left a big impression. And how could it not? Instead of the horses and benches found on a typical carousel, this one featured garish, whimsical seating in which you could ride on a guitar with Chet Atkins, share the saddle with Andrew Jackson, or hop on the back of a catfish.
Even now, a decade and a half later, museum officials say people want to know when it’ll be back.
Yeah, must’ve missed the height of the carousel craze. I didn’t start really going downtown until 2005, so it makes complete sense as to how this thing completely evaded my memory.
Sounds super badass, though, right? I’ve been riding fake horses on carousels my whole life. Some might say it’s been a passion of mine. But, when I think Nashville, I think “different.” And, nothing says ‘different’ like riding Andrew Jackson.
That’s the carousel I want to be on.
Howell expects the business plan will call for a fundraising campaign specifically for the carousel. The museum is also open to sponsorships or an operating partnership. Howell notes that Nashville companies originally sponsored some of the figures on the carousel when it was commissioned in the 1990s.
So there’s no timetable yet for putting the carousel back on display, but Howell says the good news is that the figures — Andrew Jackson and Chet Atkins and even the catfish — are still in great condition.
And she says the museum is committed to Tennesseans being able to ride them again in the not-too-distant future.
So, in short, there’s no money to fix it, they don’t know when they’ll fix it, but they’re committing to make it work. What could possibly go wrong in between? I’m practically getting my loins ready to slap up and down on hard figurines as we speak.
By the way, we need to figure out how to slap a SoBros sticker on one of these figures STAT.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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