Kennewick City Staff Corralling Carousel Horses

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By Molly Kelleher

Summary

It's a different kind of rodeo. Kennewick city staff is corralling all the parts and pieces for the Kennewick carousel. The city has already spent hundreds of thousands on the project and before it goes any further, they need to get all the horses under one roof.

Story Published: Mar 15, 2010 at 6:27 PM PST

Kennewick City Staff Corralling Carousel Horses
KENNEWICK - It's a different kind of rodeo. Kennewick city staff is corralling all the parts and pieces for the Kennewick carousel.

The city has already spent hundreds of thousands on the project and before it goes any further, they need to get all the horses under one roof.

It's nothing fancy, but it's home. The city of Kennewick is rounding up all the antique carousel horses, all 44 to bring them to their new home.

Right now they've got just nine with more in a moving truck. This month city workers will drive around town to lasso every horse, coug and husky and bring them to this city storage facility.

"We wanted to squelch rumors that the foundation didn't know where they were. They had them spread out intentionally to show off the asset and now we're bringing it back so everyone knows it exists and its real," said Jeff Kossow with the city of Kennewick.

If you walk into America West Bank in Kennewick, you might not notice it at first but look around the corner by the printer there is one antique horse worth up to $30,000.

The expensive horses are a hot-button issue because the city already has spent $860,000 on this project. And leaders have promised no more going round and round. This is the year they decide to stick it out or cut their losses.

How much will it cost to get the project up and running? The Carousel Foundation is getting those numbers together. City staff estimates several million dollars. In a couple of months, the foundation will lay it all out for city councilors to decide: sell off their part or keep partnering in the project.

But before we get to that point, we had to get here in a city space for some pricey ponies.

It's not only for public perception, but also good for the city's insurance purposes. After all, it's your money they're spending.

Action News talked with the chair of the carousel foundation and they're not just trying to figure out cost, but also location of the carousel. That's still not decided.

There's some new ideas being tossed around, the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center and a space by Clover Island. The idea is to put it near stores.