A carousel featuring a prehistoric fish, the iconic butter cow, native wildlife and tributes to all 88 Ohio counties officially opened July 25 ahead of the 2026 Ohio State Fair.
Gov. Mike DeWine, First Lady Fran DeWine and Ohio Expo Center & State Fair leaders cut the ribbon on the new Ohio Children’s Carousel, calling it the centerpiece of a yearslong transformation of the fairgrounds that began with the Governor’s Expo 2050 Task Force in 2019.
“It’s a love letter to Ohio,” DeWine said during the dedication ceremony.
Built from the ground up in Marion by Carousels and Carvings, the old-fashioned carousel features 30 hand-carved ride figures inspired by Ohio’s history, agriculture and wildlife. Riders can climb aboard a white-tailed deer, the Ohio State Fair’s famous butter cow, horses representing different regions of the state and the Dunkleosteus terrelli, a prehistoric fish native to Ohio.
The carousel also includes two chariots, one of which is wheelchair accessible, making the attraction available to riders of all abilities.
Every one of Ohio’s 88 counties is represented somewhere in the carousel’s design, along with 24 carved scenes highlighting places and moments from across the state. Among them are the Palace Theatre, Hocking Hills and the Little Brown Jug harness race.
First Lady Fran DeWine, who helped design the carousel alongside the governor, said her favorite figure is the trumpeter swan, North America’s largest native waterfowl and a species once nearly eliminated from Ohio before conservation efforts helped restore its population.
State Fair Executive Director Adam Heffron called the carousel an “iconic new state treasure” that has been two years in the making.
“Everyone that is stepping up and looking at this ride smiles,” Heffron said.
Carousels and Carvings is the only U.S. carousel manufacturer that builds new carousels and restores antique ones entirely in-house.
Founder and President Todd Goings said each carved figure begins as little more than a block of wood before artisans spend between 100 and 200 hours bringing it to life.
“Everything starts as a pile of wood,” Goings said. “It’s not about the people who built it. It’s about the people who enjoy it.”
The July 25 ribbon-cutting coincided with National Carousel Day and marked the attraction’s official debut ahead of this year’s Ohio State Fair.
The 2026 Ohio State Fair runs July 29 through Aug. 9 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.
Trending reporter Amani Bayo can be reached at abayo@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Fair unveils carousel DeWine calls ‘love letter to Ohio’
Reporting by Amani Bayo, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Amani Bayo, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
