PORT TOWNSEND — Bill Dentzel’s “Carousel by the Olympic Sea,” a dream that has spun in his mind since 1984, is on its way to Waveland, Miss.
The colorful carousel of riding figurines is expected to one day merrily go round in a town still reeling after Hurricane Katrina leveled much of it in 2005.
Dentzel, a fifth-generation carousel maker, said he owes a great deal of thanks to Poulsbo-based mover Steve Hill, who volunteered to take the carousel from Port Townsend to Waveland, as well as to other donors from Poulsbo, Silverdale, Bainbridge and Kingston.
It will be Hill’s 15th goodwill trip to Waveland, he said on Tuesday while showing Port Townsend High School students in woodshop instructor Jim Guthrie’s class how to help pack his moving van.
The van was pulled up to the auto shop, where students hand-hoisted carousel pieces into Hill’s moving van.
“This is going to be an exciting one,” Hill said of the trip.
“Waveland is a town where 2,000 homes literally disappeared,” Hill said.
“They’re still hurting there.”
Guthrie, along with Dentzel and former high school shop instructor Jim Toyne, have supervised students who helped build the 10-rider carousel over several years.
The project to build the carousel began in 1991. The hope then was to find a permanent location for it in Port Townsend.
A Port Townsend location never was established, so the carousel was in storage for years.
