On this blog, I get the chance to explore my love of how people create and invent using new technology. In many ways, Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, California runs completely against the theme of this blog. It is one of the earliest theme parks in the United States, seemingly frozen in time for generations, and what little technology it has is about as analog as it gets.

But when I got an invitation to interview the creative team behind restoring the parks oldest ride, the Wonder-Go-Round, I couldn’t resist. As a Bay Area native, I went to this park as a child, I brought my own kid to this park when he was little — the chance to make a deeper connection to this unique place and meet some of the creative people behind it was just too good to pass up.

Imagining Imagineering

Did you know that before Walt Disney made Disneyland, he visited Children’s Fairyland in 1950 and promptly hired away the park’s director, Dorothy Manes? As soon as I heard this, everything clicked. There’s an aesthetic and sensibility that ties the two places together in my mind — a mixture of fairytales and fiberglass that now seems commonplace in American mini golf courses and roadside attractions, but originally sprang from sources like Fairyland and Disneyland.

Built in 1956 as the park’s first “ride”, the Alice in Wonderland themed Wonder-Go-Round is an early example of a bite-sized, steel and fiberglass carousel. Unlike the larger, more common carousel designs (which Fairyland also features), the less intimidating 6-seat Wonder-Go-Round is deliberately made for small children. Though children are often accompanied by a parent to stand at their side, it’s immediately evident to young children that the ride is made for them to enjoy — a novel concept for its time.

Built to Rust

In the interview video I made, Shannon Taylor and Nick Mitchell do a great job of telling the story of the Wonder-Go-Round’s restoration, but there are also some great stories on the cutting room floor that I want to mention here.

I also want to recognize Fairyland’s Paul Jordan, who was also part of the team and did a huge portion of the work of sanding and repairing the ride and the characters and documenting the process with many of the photos shown here.

For any makers or fabricators who’ve made it this far, I’ve got two stories from the team you’ll be glad you stuck around for. Whether you’re building for Burning Man, or your local Maker Faire, there’s a lot you can learn about how a ride like the Wonder-Go-Round falls into disrepair and neglect after 60 years.

Of all the elements of the ride, you might be surprised to learn that the rustiest, most damaged portion was the crown that sits at the top. The motor and gearing for the ride have always been completely enclosed and protected from the elements. The fiberglass characters have needed regular touch-ups of Bondo and paint, but have essentially endured the ravages of time. But the crown-shaped top of the ride suffered the most corrosion over the decades despite repeated efforts to patch it up.

What was the problem? Like any structure, a roof takes a lot of abuse from the elements. But the critical flaw in the original design was that once rain water entered into the zig-zagging steel tubing that makes up the crown, it had nowhere to exit. Instead, it collected and sloshed around in the tubes until the bottom of the crown rusted out and sagged year after year as the rust ate away at the metal.

So, design takeaway #1: it’s smart to keep the rain out, but it’s even smarter to make sure it has someplace to go when leaks inevitably occur. Accidental pools of water sitting inside structures made of any material will eventually cause its demise.

Kids are Filthy

The other takeaway I got from this interview is that you can save yourself a lot of repainting work by sealing your project with the right clear coat.

It sounds like such an adorable problem, but Children’s Fairyland is besieged by crawling, snacking, snot wiping, juice-dropping youngsters on a daily basis. There’s just no getting around it.

Photos by Donald Bell.

Paint alone can’t stand up to this abuse, no matter how many layers you put down. A conventional acrylic topcoat is a good, inexpensive layer of defense against the kind of grime and sun damage most of our projects will see.

But when you need the best of the best to project your project from an unrelenting horde of happy children, you reach for the good stuff. Once the painting was perfect, Shannon went over it with Modern Masters Colorfast EX Zero VOC Acrylic Polyurethane Clear Base (in clear gloss). It is a product made for industrial or professional use only, so it make take some effort to hunt down.

I learned from my talk with Nick that the same stuff was used on a recent restoration of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

What a 2-part activated finish like this provides that other coating products lack is strength, clarity and longevity. The zero-VOC aspect of it also makes it ideal for public spaces and items that will come in contact with children. To protect against gnawing, scratching, tantrum-having kiddos, it’s the latest and greatest stuff.

Making Magic

I’m glad I was able to capture this glimpse of the effort that went into restoring this little, old, magical merry-go-round. It may not be a conventional “maker” story, but it’s got all the bits I love. It’s a story about creative people getting their hands dirty and put a little magic back in the world. I hope it inspires you to make (or restore) something meaningful to you.