The Rotary Club of Greensboro Carousel at the Greensboro Science Center (GCS) will open to the public on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

The carousel, donated by the Greensboro Rotary Club to the people of Greensboro and operated by GSC, features 56 hand carved and hand painted figures that range from horses and chariots to dinosaurs, tigers and what is sure to be a crowd pleaser, a rhino.

And, yes, the rhino figure is associated with Rhino Times. That bee on the rhino’s hind end looks suspiciously like the bee in the logo for Bee Safe Storage and Wine Cellar, another of the companies that make up The Carroll Companies owned by Roy Carroll. The rhino was donated by the Carroll family.

If you are a member of GSC, you can get a sneak preview of the carousel on Monday, Aug. 24 and Tuesday, Aug. 25.

The carousel will be open year round from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and is expected to attract over a million visitors annually.

Ticket prices for GSC members are $1 per ride and $5 for seven rides, and for non-members its $2 per ride and $10 for seven rides.

The Rotary Club of Greensboro wins big points for finally bringing the $3.8 million project, all paid for with donations, to completion. In 2007, the Rotary Club of Greensboro announced plans to build the carousel on Church Street near the Children’s Museum, but those plans fell through.

Ten years later, amid much hoopla, a figure for the carousel was unveiled at a Greensboro Grasshoppers game along with the announcement that the carousel would open in March 2018.

That opening was delayed for a variety of reasons.

Then this year the coronavirus, which has caused practically everything to be delayed or canceled, added a further delay. Now that the cleaning and social distancing procedures have been worked out, the carousel is opening.

Glenn Dobrogosz, CEO of GCS said, “This amazing gift from the Rotary Club of Greensboro to the citizens of our community is so very needed right now. Everyone is looking to the future and returning to some semblance of normal in our daily lives and in our aspirations to create new and inventive ways to improve quality of life for all. The beauty, sounds and nostalgia linked to a carousel just makes people feel good. I think all of us could use some of that today.”

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