Every year, a team comes together at the Ellis Carousel in Coolidge Park to maintain its structure, safety, and most importantly, its history.
Todd Goings, a carousel carver and restorationist, Beth McNelly, a jurisdictional safety inspector, and Larry Ridge, the instructor at Chattanooga's Horsin’ Around Carousel Carving School, where the project first started; and a dedicated crew from Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors.
Ridge has been a woodcarver since his Sunday school teacher gave him his first X-ACTO Carving Set at 14-years-old. It was not until he met Bud Ellis, the founder of Horsin’ Around Carousel Carving School, that Ridge began to change gears and focus on carousel work.
Bud and his wife, Johnnie, birthed the idea of the Coolidge Carousel and built it from the ground up. “1985 was the year that it started coming together formally, but they'd been working for years before that point in time, said Ridge. “They would take it to the different clubs here in town, everybody he could get to listen and tell them about the possibility of what we could do if we made our own carousel.”
Finally, when people started catching on, Ridge recalled that about 100-150 volunteers worked on building the beloved structure that all Chattanoogans know today. All of the animals are hand-carved and painted. Bud himself worked on one while assigning his students to construct the others.
Ridge sees to his own original work as he does his old workmates. Some have held their wedding receptions at the carousel, around their own animal; a family held their grandmother's funeral reception in the window-wrapped room, riding their late grandmother's horse round and round.
“Some of these people have passed on, but you can see on these plaques on the floor, the different names of the horse,” said Ridge between brush strokes of a white base coat of paint on a horse's mane. “This is Corky, and James “Corky” Dunn is the guy that started this animal, and he passed away while he was making it, and so a bunch of us went ahead and finished this animal, the way he wanted it done.”
The room is filled with memories. Every week, Ridge returns to tend to the grime that accumulates and the repaints that need to be done, keeping his classmates' memories and work alive. “Every one of these around here has a story,” said Ridge.
Todd Goings, a 2024 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, conducts mechanical and operational work for the Ellis Carousel. He works alongside Beth McNelly, who examines his work as part of her job inspecting amusement park rides, ensuring they are up to Tennessee codes.
“Maintaining the original intent of the carousel, making people happy, you know,” said Goings. “Give them a ride for three and a half minutes of pure fantasy being on their favorite animal going around, feeling the wind and the sound of the band organ and the music and the people.”
The pair not only protects the history of Ellis Carousel but also ensures its functionality and safety, continuing to provide amusement and wonder for generations to come. “It's all part of it, you know, for me, I love doing my job because when I step back, that's what you give everybody else. They don't really care who I am or where I came from, just that this is here and that it's still doing what it's intended to do.”
The painting, the mechanics, and the inspections are all necessary jobs to protect and preserve Chattanooga's history and amusement. “I like that people can come to my work to be happy; they come to find joy. Grandmas can come with their grandsons, and they can both do the same thing and enjoy it. It’s ageless,” said McNelly.
Over the course of five days, a dedicated team deep-cleaned the carousel from the tiled floors to the pointed ceilings. Dee Dee Toney, Scott Beatty, and Michelle Burkhart, with assistance earlier in the week from Erica Springs and Jose Maynez, scoured everything. They even polished the small, intricate brass details that have held the remnants of family memories all year long, prepping the site for Todd, Beth, and Larry to begin their specialized work.
The three experts have worked together for four years, meeting annually to pool resources and skills with the help of Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors to open the doors to a squeak-free, bright, and secure carousel.
Ridge frequents the Ellis Carousel, keeping the life in the work of those he once knew, “We’re going to keep this thing up, the city’s made a commitment to it. Our group, the friends of the carousels, made a commitment to it. We’ll be keeping this thing in good shape for years and years and years, (...) my great great grandchild's kids can come down and ride this thing.”
Photos by Everett Christiansen, courtesy Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors.