(door clatters) (door clatters) (door clatters) (light switches clicking) (bell ringing) (festive music) - [Narrator] At Glen Echo Park, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., visitors of all ages line up to ride the carousel.

The antique, hand-carved carousel built by the Dentzel Carousel Company was installed in the park in 1921 and has remained there ever since.

Max Hurley operates the carousel, while his mother, Irene, handles the ticket sales.

- I've actually been operating the carousel for 26 years.

Two years before that, I did some volunteer work here to clean the floors, polish brass and help maintain oiling and greasing.

And then two years later, I was asked if I would like to operate the carousel, and back then, it was just Saturday and Sunday, which didn't interfere with my regular job, so I thought that would be a great job to have.

Mostly what I've been doing is trying to keep all the gears adjusted, oiled, and greased, making sure all the lights are working.

When I first started here, I had mostly kids working with me.

A lot of times, I couldn't depend on any of them showing up.

It ran that way for two years, and I talked to my boss at that time to see if my mother could come in part-time and help out, and my mother liked the idea so she came, and started working and landed up pretty much full-time.

Anytime the carousel is open, she's usually here, too.

- In 1979, I came here to work as a relief person to help Max out 'cause he was having more customers than he could handle.

And I was supposed to only work one season, but I've been here now 24 seasons, and it's been my 24 happiest years.

My main job at the carousel is to sell tickets.

And then the other things I do is polish the brass, wipe off the animals, check for safety straps, sweep the deck, just anything else that needs to be done, but my main job is to sell tickets.

On a typical weekend, we sell about 4,000 tickets.

- [Narrator] Glen Echo Park is a cultural arts center and a national park.

Its classes, performances, exhibits, and events draw half a million visitors each year.

The buildings still recall Glen Echo's heyday as Washington, D.C.'s premiere amusement park.

Between 1899 and 1968, thousands of people visited Glen Echo to enjoy its rides and attractions.

- What makes this carousel special for me is the fact that it goes back to my time in the '40s when I came to the park in '43, mostly to dance.

Of course, it being an amusement park, we had other things here like the carousel, and the bumper car and roller coaster, and we also had the shooting gallery, all these other things that go with amusement parks, but my primary purpose coming to the park was dancing, and this was the place where as a government worker, that we came by streetcar out here, usually Saturday night.

But on Sunday afternoons, we also came to swim to the pool when I had a date.

(Irene chuckles) It's sort of a nostalgic place for me to come back to.

(jazz music) - [Max] Personally, I've always enjoyed the old carousel because I came here when I was a child, and not only rode the carousel, but at times, when I'd finish riding all the rides, I'd come in and sit by the organ and listen to the organ play because it was mechanical and I always liked mechanical things.

- [Narrator] Glen Echo Park was one of the most popular spots in the Washington, D.C. area.

But not everyone was able to enjoy the park's attractions.

Glen Echo was open to whites only.

Its segregation policy was challenged in 1960.

- I was amongst a group of students, most of whom were from Howard University.

About the middle to the end of June, we were participating in sit-ins in Arlington, Virginia, but at the same time, we were aware of the fact that Glen Echo had a policy of segregation, and so we did decide to challenge that.

So it was initially a group of maybe 10 to 15 students who decided that we would come to the park and challenge the admission to the park itself.

Initially, when we first entered the park, we were stopped by law enforcement, by Maryland state law enforcement who told us that we could not come into the park, and that we would have to leave.

Some of us were able to move past the police officer and gain further entrance into the park and I was one of those, so I was able to come further into the park, and ultimately, come into and get onto the carousel.

And of course, by that time, additional police support had gathered, and so we were then challenged on the carousel, as far as our presence, and were subsequently told that if we did not leave, get off the carousel, that we would be arrested and that we were trespassing.

And so I was arrested for trespassing, and was taken to the police station, and charges were levied of trespassing that day.

After that day that we were arrested, we did come back.

We came back over a period of probably about three weeks, and picketed on a daily basis for several hours each day, and after that period, we had what was called a cooling off time where we really wanted to sit down with park owners and try to sensibly talk about and negotiate the park's policy, and come to a sensible agreement that it was something that was unjust and really needed to be discontinued.

And ultimately, with again, a lot of community support, over a period of weeks, the owners began to see that this was something that had some serious support, and that truly, the legal issues that were behind the arrest, in fact, of using state enforcement to carry out private segregation policies, was something that they weren't gonna ultimately be able to continue, so over a period of time, they did change the policy.

The doors opened to all, regardless of color, in March of 1961.

Of course, I was elated.

I felt, along with those who had participated with me, that our efforts were not in vain, that a lot of the taunting, which sometimes even resulted in threats of violence against us, and all of the negative activity that occurred around that time, was not in vain, and that truly, this was justice rewarded, and that we had made a mark in the area, and sent a message that truly, this was a social injustice that was coming to an end.

(gentle music) - When I was little, Glen Echo Park was the place to come because there really weren't any other amusement parks in the area and we were so fortunate to live a mile or two from the park, so it was just our idea that every week, if we could go, we were begging our parents, "please take us to the park."

My husband, although at the time I didn't know that he was my husband, he grew up not too far from me, and he also did the same thing with his parents.

I'll bet we were at Glen Echo Park at the same time at some point but we didn't know it.

And I do remember all the rides, all the amusements, all the lights.

And the few that I weren't afraid of was the carousel right here, and also the little airplanes that went up and down.

The big roller coaster absolutely terrified me, and I never would have ridden on that, but riding on the carousel was just spectacular.

Sometimes, I'd ride on the outside animals because they went fast, and there were all different kinds of animals on the outside.

Or sometimes, I liked riding on the inside because those went up and down.

- It's part of our life, Glen Echo, the carousel.

(band organ music) We loved the music most of all, and of course, all these beautiful lights, and going on the horses and the rabbit.

She loved to be on the rabbit, and sitting on this chair together.

She was five years old.

- I always think of the carousel, also, in relation to my experience in childhood.

I grew up in Italy and when we came here, I was almost 30 years old, so the carousel brings back memories to me of similar experiences back in Europe, and so, it looks almost like a piece of home, if you wish to say.

(band organ music) - When I was very young, we would start out by riding on those carts because they don't go up and down, and that was about my mom's speed, but then I graduated to these outside animals here because they don't go up and down, and my poor mother would stand on the outside to block me if I flew into space, and the outer row really goes quite fast, so that was probably a pretty exciting ride for her, and I remember then getting used to the ones that bob up and down.

They're just magnificent animals.

They have these beautiful eyes.

They still do.

They're glass and so they've got a lot of depth to them.

They're just magnificent, very lively.

- [Narrator] In the mid-1960s, Glen Echo's popularity declined, and attendance to the park fell.

In 1968, the owners announced that the park would close.

- I was among the fortunate few to grow up in the town of Glen Echo, and actually, I have lived here all of my life since then.

When I saw the articles announcing the closure of the amusement park at Glen Echo and the announcement that the rides were all going to be sold, I went to our mayor at the time and said, "Couldn't we do something about this?"

- to save one thing at the park, and that would be the carousel.

We found that it had been sold to a collector in Virginia by the name of Jim Wells.

Jim Wells sold the carousel to Mike Roberts, a collector from California, and Mike Roberts had learned of our efforts to save the carousel.

Mr. Roberts gave the town one month in order to raise the sum of $80,000 to purchase the carousel.

Glen Echo is a very small town.

We had never undertaken anything of this magnitude or of this nature before, so we were really feeling our way.

I was the person who managed the fundraising efforts, and at that point, I was a member of the Glen Echo Town Council, and worked very closely with the mayor at the time.

The largest amount came from the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation of Washington D.C., which offered us a matching grant of half the amount, and that would be ours if we could match it.

And we were able to do that with enormous help from many sources: local foundations, local governments, individuals, schools, scout troops, garden clubs, and of course, the town of Glen Echo.

On the last day of the 30 days that were allowed us to raise the money, we were about $10,000 short, and an anonymous donor came through with the final amount in the afternoon, so it was a very exciting time in the town of Glen Echo when that occurred.

- [Narrator] In 1970, through a land exchange with the park's owners, the United States federal government acquired Glen Echo Park.

The National Park Service soon took over the administration of the park.

The carousel was donated to the National Park Service on the condition that it remain at Glen Echo for the public's enjoyment.

One year later, Glen Echo Park reopened to the public as an arts and cultural center.

- My family moved here when I was five years old, which was 1969, which was right after the amusement park closed, so we never saw it open as an amusement park, but the carousel was always, always running.

One of the things I remember very well is that I would get dressed up to ride the carousel.

I'm not sure why.

I don't remember if my parents suggested it or I suggested it, but I would wear fancy little dresses and sit on the carousel, and feel like everybody was looking at me.

(band organ music) And the other thing I always remember is the music.

I mean, the music, obviously it's changed, I'm sure it's changed, but it doesn't seem like it's changed.

It's always that same really loud, sort of very upbeat, bouncy, I think of it like polka-type music.

And you'd be walking up the path and you'd hear the music.

The carousel's going.

The carousel's going.

And that was sort of luring people in.

(band organ music) - What we have is a wide variety of music.

We play classical.

We have popular music that comes from 1910, 1920s, on up to about the mid-1960s.

Of course, you have your marches and waltzes, which everybody's used to.

The Wurlitzer 165 has a snare drum, bass drum, castanets, triangle, crash symbol, glockenspiel, and 265 wooden pipes.

Right now, we have over 150 rolls for the organ.

(sound of punching paper) When I started to learn to arrange music for the carousel, it was more of a trial and error.

The first song I tried, I couldn't get it to work.

I tried three times, I couldn't get it to work.

I found another piece that I thought might work, and actually got it to work, and that showed me how to actually do the arrangements.

I have done all kinds of different types of music because I like a wide variety of music myself.

- [Narrator] The Glen Echo Park carousel is called a menagerie carousel because it has a variety of animals.

There are 40 horses, four rabbits, four ostriches, a giraffe, a deer, a lion, and a tiger.

- I don't recall any of the animals ever frightening me, but I do know that my children have very specific ideas of which ones they can and can't ride, and they always start out where they wanna ride the ones that don't go up and down, and then, they'll go on the ones that go up and down.

But certain ones, like the lion, it takes them a while to get to the lion, and they really love the unusual ones, the ostriches, the bunnies.

- I like dangling my feet off the horses, and letting my shoes drop.

- And I like it when I pretend that the tiger and the lion are chasing the ostriches, and the bunnies and the horses.

That's the part that I like.

- I do have a few animals that I actually do like.

I can't really say what it is that attracts them to me, but I do like 'em.

I just started naming a few of 'em.

The rabbits were a little unusual because they were named after actors, 'cause you have Peter, Raymond, Terry, and Walter.

It's Walter Brennan, Terry Thomas, Peter Lorre, and Raymond Burr because that's who they remind me of.

Of course, the lion is Richard the Lionhearted.

Now the tiger, I'm not sure.

I call him Prince Frederick.

So I figure we have a king, we might as well have a prince, too.

One of the horses reminds me of Robert E. Lee's horse, which was Traveller, so I call him Traveller.

- [Narrator] In 1983, Rosa Ragan, a North Carolina-based artist who specializes in carousel restoration, began working on a 20-year project to restore the carousel.

- I live in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, and I live in the woods and I have a very nice studio there along with my husband who is an artist.

And my husband and I would rent a truck to transport the animals and we would come up and dismantle them from the carousel, and move them back to North Carolina for restoration.

The animals were in really good condition before the restoration, and that means that there were very few broken legs.

The paint was in terrible condition because there had been layers and layers, and layers of paint put on over the years, so that paint was beginning to alligator and crack and fall off.

The first step in the restoration was to find the original paint and document it, and then I carefully documented that using a universal color chart.

The second step would be to clean as many of the old, unstable layers of paint off.

We didn't clean them all the way back to the original paint.

We wanted to save that and leave that intact, but we cleaned maybe five or six layers of paint off, leaving the original.

And then the animal was, the whole thing was sealed with several sealing but reversible products.

And there was a primer coat put on.

And then the fun part, which is only about ten percent of the project, began, and that's the painting.

The decoration and the painting, when I did that, I referred back to the original paint and designs, and I didn't add anything that was mine, with the exception of one little thing, and traditionally on a carousel that I restore, I give one animal, usually the lowliest, the smallest creature, a little gold tooth, and so one has a little gold tooth.

In addition to the carousel animals, I restored the band organ front, the center barrel panels that now have scenery painting on them, and the upper rounding boards, and the ceiling panels.

I restored everything except the floor.

When the 20-year restoration project was completed, I felt a little bit lost.

It was like losing a friend, and luckily, I can come back and work on it year after year doing touch-up.

- When I see the carousel now, I guess I think about the fact that it's the part of the park that's really stayed the same.

I'm not big on amusement parks myself anyway, and I think the transition it's gone through, I've really watched it undergo this transition from when it closed in '68 to when it was kind of in ruins during the '70s in a very beautiful way.

I remember walking through the park with a friend of mine, and I think you and I, Ed, must have walked through the park, too, when we were teenagers, and it was like this ghost town.

I remember opening a door somewhere, and you could still smell the park.

You could smell the cotton candy and the popcorn and things, so when I see this carousel, it has stayed, and it's just wonderful to see that, even though the park has changed so much in its focus now, it's an art center, and we actually take advantage of that in many, many ways, but the carousel is still the way it always was, and I love being able to come here during the day and hear it play and know that it's still going on.

So it's that one little patch of childhood that has not changed.

(chuckles) - Well, I actually have been back to the park twice.

And I did not come back to ride on the carousel, but I did come back to look at the facilities.

Between then and now, it's gone through some renovation, and so I was really interested in coming back to see what the change was like, but also, to remind myself of the efforts that we put forth, and to really enjoy the fact that the community was truly a community, and to kind of relive some of the pleasant memories of what we were able to do here.

- I appreciate now something that I really didn't notice when I was younger, which is the beauty of the carousel.

When I was younger, I just wanted to go for a ride and now, I see all the work that goes into it, in keeping it up, all the love that the people who work on it, and work with it, expend on the carousel, and how also the people who ride it treat it very respectfully because they can tell that it's a work of art.

- I just enjoy the carousel.

It's become a part of me.

It's more like I hope to keep it around many more years, even after I'm gone.

(band organ music)