Here is another museum to add to your list: the Carnival Heritage
Museum in Kinsley, Kansas.  The museum has an old Tilt-a-Whirl, a small
working carousel, and a Wheel of Chance from 1920.  In conjunction with
the museum is the Carnival Hall of Fame, which includes original back-
drops from "Her Sexcellency" dancer Sally Rand, and a tribute to a
local husband and wife sword-swallowing team.

The museum, which opened in 1996, was begun by local citizens who
formed the National Foundation for Carnival Heritage.  Kinsley, a town
of 2,000, was a hub for carnivals in the early 1900s.  A story that has
been handed down over the years involved a local farmer named Charles
Brodbeck who took his family to a park in Hutchinson that charged for
carousel rides.

Brodbeck decided he could make more money from selling carousel rides
than from farming.  He bought a steam-powered carousel and kept it
first at his farm, then started taking it to events.  It eventually
turned into a full-blown carnival.  The town has had six different
carnivals over the years, all of them started by relatives of the
Brodbecks.  The last one shut down in the 1970s.

The Carnival Heritage Museum in Kinsley is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

(P.S.  Also based in Kinsley is White's Carousel, a company which
manufactures carousel horses).

Joyce Brite
Player Piano and Mechanical Music Exchange      * Buy - Sell - Trade *
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Exchange/