The historic platform carousel in Oak Bluffs whirls again beginning this weekend, and daily once Island schools are out.
No whinnying or stamping came from inside the Flying Horses Carousel on Saturday morning. But the horses were in there waiting for children, as they have for more than 140 years.
Blue skies, brisk winds, the sound of organ music in downtown Oak Bluffs--it must be spring on the Vineyard.
A barrel piano provided the musical accompaniment to the carousel when it was first moved to the Vineyard in 1884 from Coney Island. This one came from Barcelona and is 100 years old.
An orchestrated commotion runs the length of Circuit avenue playing the music of summer. Strolling clusters of tourists plan their days as they negotiate the narrow sidewalks, crowd open-air eateries and ice cream shops, hold debates over T-shirts and people-watch from storefront benches. All the while cars crawl up the street stopping and starting.
You can take your ospreys and pinkletinks, your snowdrops, too. Nature is not the only harbinger of spring. Bring on the horses — The Flying Horses.
On Saturday, March 30, at 11 a.m. the nation’s oldest platform carousel opens for its 138th season.
Many children are instantly enchanted by the Oak Bluffs institution known as the Flying Horses. But a recently published children’s book, When Horses Fly, gives new meaning to the horses’ flight.
One night as a young girl named Caroline struggles to fall asleep, the Flying Horses carousel appears to her outside her house. Suddenly, one of the painted horses magically flies off the carousel and lets Caroline ride her, giving her a chance to say a final goodbye to her pet horse Nutmeg, who had died months ago.
