Published in the Times Union: Wednesday, January 30, 2008
WILTON -- A ride on the Wilton Mall carousel was Luke Ricciardone's reward after a day of shopping with his mom, so he was saddened to find it missing when he walked into the food court.
"It wasn't viable from the time we took over," said Bill Christ, president of Island Carousel.
The ride, painted with a horse-racing theme, was installed in 1990 when the Wilton Mall was built. The mall's owner, Wilmorite Corp., operated the carousel until the Macerich Co. took over the mall.
That's when Wilmorite sold the ride to Island Carousel as part of a package deal including carousels in Rotterdam as well as New Jersey and Connecticut.
"We we were given the opportunity to take over four carousels previously operated by Wilmorite," Christ said.
The rides at the malls in Freehold, N.J., and Danbury, Conn., were money-makers, but the carousels in Rotterdam and Wilton were not. Island closed the Rotterdam ride immediately but refurbished the Wilton carousel and gave it a year to make money. Rides cost $1.50, and the parent of a child rider was admitted for free.
"Wilmorite provided the carousel as an amenity and it didn't matter if it supported itself or not. As operators, we had to make payroll, pay rent and insurance," Christ said.
Before rent, it costs $90,000 to $95,000 to maintain a carousel, he said.
The carousel is now in storage. The Rotterdam ride reopened in a Miami mall Dec. 16, Christ said.
Becky Valenti, the marketing manager at Wilton Mall, said the staff added a children's play area outside JCPenney and "will consider alternate children's concepts" for the space where the carousel sat.
Kim Ricciardone, Luke's mother, said her 4-year-old son walked to the middle of the now empty space where the carousel used to be and held up his arms as if to say, "Where did it go?"
Ricciardone, who moved to the area four years ago and lives with her husband and son in Mechanicville, said Luke has Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. Riding the carousel helped him, she said.
"It was a joyful experience for him," she said.
Ricciardone is looking for other carousels in the area and plans to take Luke to Congress Park this summer to ride the Saratoga Springs carousel. For now, another family tradition is intact.
"We took him to the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, N.J., to ride the carousel I rode as a child, and my mother held him the way she did when I was younger," Ricciardone said.
Hornbeck can be reached at 581-8438 or by e-mail at lhornbeck@timesunion.com.
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