PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Carousel currently sits frozen in time as it waits for riders. Will operations resume under city ownership?  

Councilors will soon decide.

On Tuesday, the City Council referred a conveyance and donation of property at 50 Center St. to the finance subcommittee. This is the location of the shuttered Berkshire Carousel, placed there almost a decade ago after years of volunteers handcrafting the horses.

James Shulman and his wife, Jackie, started the effort as a gift back to his hometown. The Shulmans live in Ohio.

While it opened to enthusiastic fans in 2016, it has not operated since 2018 after leadership and funding fell apart. A gift agreement and proposed business model from the family entails the stipulations and upkeep required to sustain the ride's spinning.

According to the agreement, the city is expected to use its best reasonable efforts to operate a carousel on the site for at least 25 years, with times and dates of operation left to its discretion.

A 2025 operational model and budget put forward by the donors costs about $61,000 annually and brings in the same amount of money, with $25,000 income from rides alone if they cost one dollar. It also includes a $15,000 gift from the Shulman family.

"If the City of Pittsfield operates the carousel in 2025, the Shulman Family will provide a full servicing of the carousel before the operation and a gift of $15,000 for complimentary or reduced rides," the model reads.

"The donation will be contingent on a matching amount raised prior to the opening of the carousel, e.g., from business sponsorships and private donations. It is recommended that if donations are above the planned costs, that the City offer reduced priced rides all season and some 'free ride days.' Free days enable kids and families with tight budgets to experience the carousel. Keeping ride fees minimal during this "re-opening" season will be positive publicity and a draw for the carousel."

The hours and salary of a part-time director for the facility is a city decision, though a 20-hour manager who begins work in early 2025 is recommended. A mechanic/technician would need to inspect the ride each day it operates.

"This is a position that can operate from one's residence and thus not require office expenses," the model reads.

"The role includes start-up fund raising, developing the $15,000 gift match, the planning of operations and recruitment of volunteers for operation, gift shop, concessions, parties and events. When the carousel is open, the manager need only be at the carousel for 10 or less hours a week, given the proposed hours of operation. The above is only a guideline."

Not included in the donation are seven of the 33 carved horses and free-standing carousel figures and two sheds located on the property.

For more than a decade, hundreds of volunteers hand-carved and painted each element of the carousel. The horses and carriages feature images of people from the community as well as areas and scenery of the county, and other unique designs.

The donation agreement entails that the city should "fully insure the carousel, maintain it in good and warrantable cosmetic, structural, and operational condition; comply with all legal and licensure requirements for ownership and operation of the carousel and facility; except as provided herein never break up, transfer of sell any figures or parts, including without limitation spare figures, or sell the carousel as a whole; and use its best reasonable efforts to preserve the carousel artwork on the figures, rounding boards, and panels in accordance with the wishes of the sponsors for these items."

The property would be maintained as a permanent, small park named "Shulman Family Park," even if the carousel is relocated, and in recognition of the volunteers and sponsors who helped create the carousel, its building would be named "The Berkshire Carousel Pavilion."

"The City agrees that, in the event the carousel is relocated, but the building remains on the
Property, the City shall offer to donate the building to the Berkshire Historical Society and/or the
Berkshire Museum for a Pittsfield/Berkshire Exhibit Hall," the agreement reads.

"Such donation may require that the building be removed from the Property or may allow the Building to remain on the Property, subject to such terms and conditions as the City may determine are appropriate or required by law. In the event that neither the Berkshire Historical Society nor the Berkshire Museum, are interested in the building, the City may use or dispose of the building as it deems appropriate."

If the carousel was donated again, the city would be required to use its best reasonable efforts to gift it as a whole with all artwork and figures to another municipality or nonprofit, working with the Carousel Museum in Bristol, Conn., and the National Carousel Association or similar organizations in order to find a new home.

At the height of the carousel's popularity in 2016, the insurance premium was around $15,200 with 150,000 rides projected. When it was not operational in 2019, that went down to about $7,100.

The carousel's insurer MountainOne said that based on the carousel being in operation, the property, liability, and equipment coverage premium will be between $10,624 and $12,537 in 2025.

Last year, it had a new HVAC system installed by Pittsfield Pipers and a new (monitored) fire and security system installed by New England Dynamark Security System. Repairs are unlikely to be needed in the near future.