Note: The images all have notations if you scroll through.
“You want us to do whaaaat?”
“Yes, that’s right, first, this mess has to be cleaned up!”
We first arrived to assess
the horses, because it starts
with the horses, the stars of
the show! It was to be a
simple assessment of the Jantzen Beach Carousel Horses toward proper restoration.
This is what we found:
an itty bitty walkway (cover your pants in grease as you went) where we had to duck and bob and look around shields and beams and poles underfoot, to see the horses tucked way back into the left corner.
Mitchell is standing on an 18×30-inch cleared stand-able space, above.
I am immediately charmed by the horses lined up, so touchable!
Actually, noone gave us
marching orders but it makes for
a great story. We had to clear
paths to inspect, let alone MOVE,
the horses for assessment. Quickly
the scope of the assessment changed,
including all decorative objects —
defined as anything not mechanical
(another firm is handling
that part of the assessment.)
Now our goal became clearing a
safe path to all the decorative objects,
even those deeply buried and
completely inaccessible, such as the
two bench seats (chariots)
and the 9-foot Cresting Boards, right.
The four moving men were divided into two groups.
We spent the whole first day stacking floor and ceiling wood at
the right end to open the blocked space, while at the left end we were moving
the tightly packed horses and shields out onto the main floor in order
to re-stack the shields out of the paths.
By the end of the long day we had reached our impossible goal,
and could actually walk around without tripping.
NOTE: Specs of white floating in the images are dust in the storage facility.
We also found the smaller bench, the Lion Chariot!
(You can see how the guys had to move in a tight short cramped space.)
Two more days!
Again, Mitchell and I worked left side / right side.
On the right side they finally were able to move the huge stack of 8×8 beams temporarily.
They carefully inched the huge heavy double-bench chariot out,
and carried it where it would be loaded into the moving truck.
Then re-stacking…
We needed to share this space with the operational assessment crew.
Right side, the rounding boards were moved and assessed, then restacked.
We decided the cresting boards should be stacked in front of them.
On the left side, several beams needed to move out onto the floor for assessment,
and also to allow us to move the cresting boards out for repositioning.
Above, Vitaliy and Tim lifting the decorative beams on one side,
while Joe lifts and steadies the beams in the back.
Several decorative beams were moved out for inspection and assessment.
Finally the cresting boards were stacked neatly in front of the rounding boards,
last image; two came back to the studio.
Day two, I assessed several items that will not come back with us to the studio, as they are either too long or too heavy: Beams, mirrored shields, painted shields.
Our first load also leaves for the studio:
Cherub shields, decorative mirrored shields, cresting boards.
A couple of Parker Ponies ride in my back seat!
We leave that night with the storage place in heavenly order, above;
a few objects must go back into the storage so it can be locked up.
End of second day, heavenly order!
Third day, the horses.
We chose our initial horses on day two when we finally had room to
move around (last image). We wanted to take two of each size,
but also wanted a sampling of the types of damages on all the horses.
By day three we had our options, and final choices were made.
The guys carefully loaded the wonderful horses, above,
and the HUGE chariots and other parts into the truck!
Fifteen (mostly) badly damaged horses came back with us.
All the lovely horses were patted
with a promise to be back SOON.
Before and after, above.
Marie Kondo has nothing on us!
Some of the horses that were chosen, above.
Next post, we show you behind the scenes in
The Jantzen Beach Stable is Full!
Above: Vitaliy Kolyvanov, Sean Morgan, Tim Carter,
Adam Todd (Portland’s Best Movers), and Joe Mabbott!
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Written by Kate Powell ©MPF Conservation.
May be printed for your own use ONLY, not for use on blogs without permission.
Wow! I got tired reading this and looking at the pictures. What a remarkable project. I am always happy when I see something being restored.
This was a scary move! I was mostly concerned about twisted ankles or something getting pierced, and not in that fun way! Great guys and they did good work. I carry a big whip!
🙂
So very, very cool to see all the behind the scenes. My heart was all happy with all the reorganizing. Well done! I made the Lego Grand Carousel and when it was done it was pretty fantastic. That was so small scale. With all these real decorative and heavy parts, when it comes together again, the Jantzen Beach Carousel will be amazing to see! Road trip!
And you get to paint it! Yay!
Yippie! What a load of work. Thankyou ahead of time, still alot to do just to errect it, let alone clean her up. Can you please share with us all where its final resting place might be? Looking forward to taking my teenage daughter there once finished, she was so little when we rode it all the time.
Hi Leslie,
We don’t know where it will rest yet. Restore Oregon is working on finding a place to put the carousel, and our end is to assess the decorative portions (horses and more) to find out what needs to be restored. Keep following us and when I know I will post it!
Kate
Looking through brings back so many memories from the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park! (yes, I am 70). Our kids rode that beautiful carousel at the Jantzen Beach Mall. Thank you so very much for your careful handling of these treasures!
Fran it is wonderful to hear from people who rode the horses! One of our woodworkers also rode them (I was a So Cal kid and so rode other carousels!) Follow us, as we will be posting frequent updates and fun observations in the informal blog posts.
Hi, I am only on Facebook, so I hope you will post more there, please? I am 61, rode it many times n the 60’s, an though I had my girls later in life, I got to share the experience with them both while it was still in JB Mall. Yes, I want to ride it again so am really hopeful it stays near the Jantzen Beach area. 🙂
Hi Katherine,
Yes I post updates on Facebook, and you can follow us there. I always post on FaceBook too! Here is our link: https://www.facebook.com/MPFConservation/
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Thank you for taking care of such beautiful horses I remember writing them as a child you to know that my boys wrote them several times as did my grandchildren. I’m anxious to see how you end up with these beautiful horses and where they end up with their finals home thank you very much for taking care of such beautiful animals
It is a pleasure to care for them!
So eager to see this restoration!
We can’t wait either! Stay tuned as one of these horses will get the treatment!
This is incredible!!! And so awesome.
Thanks Phred!
Very tedious work for Restore Oregon and it’s partners. Go team sez Arr.