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Community Corner

A Falmouth Carousel Comes Home

Falmouth artist Lance Shinkle's Carousel of Light, which operated in Falmouth and Hyannis in the early 1990s, is back from California and looking for a permanent home in the town where it was born.

The Carousel of Light is back from California and looking for a new home in Falmouth, the town where it was born 25 years ago.

Falmouth artist Lance Shinkle began hand-carving animals for the carousel in 1988, using pine from a local sawmill. In the early 1990s it operated in Falmouth and Hyannis before Shinkle moved it to California, according to the carouseloflight.org website.


Shinkle has since returned to Falmouth, where he has donated the carousel to Carousel of Light, Inc., a non-profit organization that aims to find a permanent home for it in the town where it was born.

What would be the best place in Falmouth for the Carousel of Light? Tell us in the comments.

According to the carouseloflight.org website, the president of the corporation is James C. Bowen, a long-time community leader and business owner on Main Street, Falmouth. Vice-President is Falmouth Selectman Mary Pat Flynn. Clerk/treasurer is Richard Sherman a certified financial planner well-known for his 39 years as co-director of the Falmouth Road Race.

Corporate directors are Falmouth Art Center director Suzy Bergman; former Falmouth selectman and newspaper columnist Troy Clarkson; landscape designer Lissie Hoffert; Falmouth Chamber of Commerce vice-president Michael Kasparian; TD Bank vice-president Nick Kleimola; Lance Shinkle’s daughter, landscape designer Chelsea Maffei; DFM Insurance Agency owner Donald McCarthy; Cisco Systems marketing manager Elizabeth Sherman; carousel creator Lance Shinkle; FalmouthVisitor.comfounder and editor Stan Terrell; retired teacher Denise Terry; and attorney Donald Terry. (source: carouseloflight.org.)

Donations may be payable to Carousel of Light Inc., 894 Main Street, Falmouth, MA 02540.

Read more about the Carousel and see a photo gallery on Cape Cod Wave.

Did you ever ride the Carousel of Light? Tell us in the comments.

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