Crews toting hammers and screwdrivers showed up at the iconic St. Augustine carousel Monday morning, beginning the process of moving it to Florida's west coast.
The carousel will be dismantled, then put back together at Port Charlotte, Fla., just south of Sarasota. Moving it there was Jim Soule, the owner's dying wish. He died last week. Sunday was its last day of operation.
Soule's son said they plan to refurbish the carousel, so every piece of it will be removed gently.
Around 9:40 p.m. Sunday night, Peggy Soules rang the bell for the last ride on the historic St. Augustine carousel.
As sad as losing the iconic merry-go-round is for the community, Jim Soules’ son Tony Pabon tells us it’s bittersweet for the family too.
The carousel has operated St. Augustine for 25 years. Pabon says he even worked there for a time when he was younger after returning from the military.
Pabon says even when Jim moved to Port Charlotte a few years ago, he kept making the four and a half-hour drive up once or twice a month to check on the carousel, and it operated all the while.
Unfortunately, Jim got sick and wasn’t able to make this drive up anymore.
Jim's sister says he suffered from Agent Orange, a sickness they say he got from his service in the Vietnam War.
After he passed, Jim's family knew it wouldn’t be possible to keep the carousel in St. Augustine. In fact, Pabon says it was one of Jim’s last wishes to have the carousel brought to his new home in Port Charlotte.
Pabon says Jim loved having the carousel in St. Augustine community for all these years, and that Sunday's show of support from the community meant a lot.
"The show of support from the community was unbelievable," Pabon said. "I mean, I've never seen lines [that long], not even on holidays or Christmas, never. If [Jim] would've seen that, he'd have been blown away."
To speak more to Jim’s love for this carousel, Pabon says the family usually only break even every year financially. Last year, Pabon says they actually lost money running it because of the nearby construction and loss of parking lot. Even still, Jim has kept it running all the while out of love for what this brought to the kids and the community.
The Soules family plans to have the carousel refurbished back to the way it looked when Jim first took over ownership, although plans for placement are still up in the air.
There are no established plans for the carousel's now vacant spot in Davenport Park.
