Tuscora Park's beloved carousel band organ will play on for decades to come thanks to generous support from the local community. (Submitted photo)

New Philadelphia, Ohio (WJER) - The Valley has come to the rescue of the Tuscora Park carousel organ. 

New Philadelphia Rotary Club member Carey Gardner says the fundraiser that started in August to completely renovate and restore the aging band organ has hit the $45,000 goal thanks to contributions from dozens of individuals, businesses and foundations.

“As we’ve have seen so many times before over the years and over the decades, our local community really loves its park and loves the carousel and the band organ and the music it makes, and the donations started coming in. Here we are now a few months later, and the money has been raised and our band organ is going to be made just like new,” he says. 

Gardner says the campaign resonated with many of those donors. 

“With the checks that would come into the park for this, we received a lot of notes from people that said I’m giving $25 because I grew up at Tuscora Park and always loved the sound of the carousel organ,” he says. “Other people said, I so look forward to bringing my grandchildren out to the park every summer. They love it, and the carousel is our favorite.”
 
Gardner says the restoration work will take place after Christmas in the Park next month, so the organ is all set to go for the season next year. 

“As soon as that event is over, our plan is to get the carousel out of the park and over to the Kegg [Pipe] Organ Company at Hartville who’s pretty much going to tear it all apart and put it back together again and return it to full function, restore its sound and its performance and its reliability,” he says. 

RYAN PASTIRCAK, WJER