They wanted something special for Christmas. Spirit debuts at Gesa carousel

Spirit is visiting the Gesa Carousel of Dreams just in time for Christmas.

The wooden reindeer is the first addition to the fully restored Charles Carmel carousel since it opened its doors in September 2014.

Leaders for the carousel unveiled the reindeer to the public Wednesday after spending months building it.

After bringing live reindeer to the carousel each year during its Christmas celebration, board members wanted to immortalize them, said Parker Hodge, the carousel’s executive director.

“It’s our second busiest weekend of the entire year,” he said. “Mike Thornton, who carved the cougar, he was itching to carve something else. He brought it up, just in casual conversation.”

That conversation turned into several hundred hours of work for Thornton, who makes reproduction Queen Anne-style furniture as a hobby.

The carving started in June and involved 30 pieces of basswood, a soft, pale wood used by many woodcarvers. Pictures of Thornton working on Spirit show the pieces stacked in the general shape of a deer before he starts crafting them into a single piece.

“It’s put together in a traditional way,” he said. “In the late 1800s, when they made carousels, they figured out a way to stack the wood.”

Holes drilled through the wood hollow out the carving and keep it light.

To top it off, Thornton got hold of real antlers from Alaska, thanks to a friend of a friend who owns a caribou farm.

After finishing the carving, the reindeer was painted by Sue Baldwin of Republic and mounted on the carousel.

The horse is sponsored by O’Brien Construction. Zak O’Brien, son of company founder Tom O’Brien, said it’s important to everyone in the 45-year-old family business to give back to the community.

“This addition is something for our community to enjoy,” he said.

Spirit’s stay on the carousel will be short. He will fly away in mid-January, but Hodge promised he would return next year, and is likely to become a regular holiday feature.

As for any further additions in the near future, Hodge said: “I will never rule out that possibility. We’ve jokingly given (Thornton) the task of a bunny for Easter. We’ll see if that manifests itself. I think he’s done for a little while.”

Christmas at the Carousel starts at 4 p.m. Thursday. The carousel is at 2901-F Southridge Blvd. Admission is free with the donation of two nonperishable food items or a new toy. Otherwise there is a $5 entrance fee.

People not able to visit Spirit Thursday can come during the normal business hours from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday or noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

This story was originally published December 6, 2017 at 5:42 PM with the headline "They wanted something special for Christmas. Spirit debuts at Gesa carousel."