Reliving a Valley delight

Joan Yanchick glanced over her shoulder at the Idora Park carousel one last time while salty drops fell from her smiling eyes.

“I looked back and thought it’s beautiful, it’s just beautiful,” she said of the restored carousel that now makes its home in Brooklyn, NY.

Yanchick, of New Middletown, planned a trip to New York City at the end of October including a stop at the Idora merry-go-round that is located in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

After seeing a segment about the carousel on WYTV Channel 33, Yanchick began planning and five months later a group of about 100 Idora Park enthusiasts were on their way to reliving a childhood delight.

“We consider it a national treasure,” said Yanchick of the ride that hasn’t seen the Mahoning Valley for more than 20 years.

After the park fire in 1984 the carousel was bought by Jane Walentas, an artist from New York.

Read the full story in Monday’s Vindicator and on vindy.com