Raleigh’s Chavis Park carousel to reopen this week

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Raleigh leaders hope a $2 million renovation will attract people to the historic carousel at Chavis Park when it reopens later this week.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported (http://bit.ly/11a7i4j) the city spent $1.8 million on the new carousel house, and more than $260,000 to restore the carousel and its band organ.

The house is a glass-walled building with an opaque roof that will glow at night and be visible from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

City officials say the new carousel house is just the first step in a comprehensive overhaul of Chavis Park.

When the Works Progress Administration built the park for blacks during the Great Depression, it drew crowds from all over eastern North Carolina. The park was dedicated in 1938.

___

Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)