An authentic Band Organ will accompany you on your ride. Shelby City Park Carrousel Friends, Incorporated, acquired the organ in 1997 to restore and use at  the carrousel. This  opportunity came about thanks to Mr. Lander Jenkins of Bessemer City who brought the instrument back from California in 1967 and kept it in working order at his former dairy farm outside of Gastonia.  The organ works, playing  beautiful tones from a Wurlitzer 125 size roll mechanism that was added at the Wurlitzer factory, replacing the original Artizan pressure pneumatics with the vacuum system common in most band organs and player pianos.  It has been repaired, with the vacuum pump, valves and pneumatics  re-done by Mr. Tony Marsico at his shop in Lincolnton. Tony has since moved back to the Pittsburgh area where he is curator at the Bayernhof Museum.
    Contributions toward the ongoing restoration  are  welcome.  You can be a Band Organ Donor! Call, write, or e-mail us from the home page. New music rolls are available and we are working on expanding our collection. Several people have donated specifically to sponsor new music rolls. We even have Christmas music. There is nothing like this authentic carrousel band organ music.

About 1965 at Balboa Island  Park, CA (below)	Band Organ rear view showing roll mechanism.
This is the bass drum and cymbal on the Wurlitzer 153 organ at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, PA.	Our organ's drum was almost identical.
Snare drum on Kennywood's organ. Our snare was missing and will be replaced with a similar old snare.	An organ facade of another Artizan A-2 Band Organ that was once owned by Paul Cuoco of Pennsylvania. Our facade is now being restored. Then the drums can be done.

  Organ restoration partly supported by a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency.
 

Return to Carrousel Home Page