GG Waiting Patiently

Lakeside Park Carousel - Lakeside Park, Port Dalhousie, St. Catharines, Ontario

My Niece Grace, waiting to get on the Carousel.

The Lakeside Carousel is a Charles I.D. Looff original, carved between 1898 and 1905 in Brooklyn, New York. The beautifully restored animals were carved by Loof's factory workers, including Marcus Charles Illions, who later went on to become a famed carousel-maker in his own right.

Relocated in 1921, the carousel came to St. Catharines from its earlier home at an amusement park in Scarborough now part of the City of Toronto. It was purchased for the amusement park flourishing in Port Dalhousie, which had 58 attractions. In those days, more than a quarter million people crossed the lake in steamships to visit Port Dalhousie on weekends.

The Lakeside Park Carousel is one of approximately 350 antique hand carved carousels still operating in North America - only nine of which are in Canada.