Sunday, August 10, 2008

Happy Belated Carousel Era Anniversary!


Do you realize what happened this past June? 20 years ago in June of 1988, Carolina Circle Mall completed its first and only renovation.

As you may already know, the Circle Crescent emblem began to be used, the mall adopted a new brighter and more colorful color scheme, and the Ice Chalet was removed and was replaced with a Food Court and a $250,000 custom-built Carousel.

I owe a lot of my love for Carolina Circle Mall to the Carousel. In 1990 when I was only a baby, I rode Carolina Circle Mall's Carousel for the first time and immediately fell in love with not only the Carousel, but the mall itself.

Unfortunately, many people blame a good portion of Carolina Circle Mall's demise to the removal of the Ice Chalet. However, as many of you already know, I don't believe that. The Carousel Era had as many fun events the Ice Rink Era had and the Carousel attracted a new crowd of people to the mall. Plus, if Carolina Circle Mall closed because the Ice Chalet was removed, it would have closed in 1988.

In turn, the Carousel was removed sometime around late 1996 when the mall began its demise, even though other Carousel Era related items such as the color scheme and Circle Crescent continued to be used until the mall closed. However, the Carousel at "The Circle" will always remain in many people's memories of growing up in Greensboro during the late 1980s and 1990s.

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