ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The latest proposal for a merry-go-round in St. Augustine is from a Jacksonville man, and it’s spinning through the governmental approval processes.
"One of the things my wife and I really cherished over the years, is bringing my grandchildren down there," JW Brinkley told First Coast News Monday. "We got to go to the carousel a lot."
He's talking about the carousel that used to be in St. Augustine for decades. However, in 2019, the owner’s family packed it up and moved it to South Florida. That left Davenport Park "an empty park," Brinkley said.
Various people have proposed to put a different carousel in the city again, but none of the ideas found stable ground.
Brinkley thought he could bring a carousel to the old city, but his business partner would not agree to the project.
"He said, 'I’m not buying a carousel! You buy a carousel! But you’ll lose your shirt!'” Brinkley laughed at the memory. "I said, 'We’re not going to do it for the money. We’re going to do it for the cause and to give back because we’ve been blessed.'"
His grandson and other relatives have teamed up with him. After eight months of speaking with the city about the idea, Brinkley told First Coast News, "The merry-go-round has been built and it’ll be shipped within two weeks from China."
In January, Brinkley and his family presented an idea of what the carousel and ticket booth would look like to St. Augustine City Commissioners, who have to sign off on the proposal. However, commissioners want a lot more information from him.
"I want the carousel back," City Commissioner Barbara Blonder told Brinkley during that meeting, "but what I’m seeing here is conceptual. We are detail oriented. We need to know what we’re voting on."
City commissioners told him to come back with a site plan, a safety plan, an image of the exact carousel, and a plan for how it would meet entry corridor design requirements.
Mentioning all that he's had to alter and learn, Brinkley said, "I said 'Ya'll tell me what to do and I’ll do it.'" He laughed. "It’s a learning curve!"
Brinkley plans to go back to the city leaders in March with the requested details.
He chuckled, "I never knew it was so hard to give something away!"