Unknown to most of the more than one million people who've ridden the carousel at Dollywood, neither Dolly Parton nor the park management ever bought the carousel. The Wolfs leased it to Dollywood and continued to operate the machine themselves. Dentzel Prancing Goat Faced with finding another location for the carousel, the Wolfs looked homeward. It's a difficult decision to make after a lifetime of operating the machine. Where it will operate in Lancaster is not determined as yet.
Several places are under consideration.
But the carousel's 55 foot diameter and 26 foot height make it impractical to install in an old-fashioned department store without major reconstruction. And there's the machine's 100,000 pounds of weight to take into consideration. For now, the greatest concern is getting it here to Lancaster, and then getting it paid for. At present, Mike is the only official member of the Friends group. He'll actively seek other members once an agreement is in place, choosing to handle the legwork himself until then.