Friends reunite at North Bay's Heritage Carousel

Jane Merchant Rides the Heritage Carousel Wednesday afternoon.

Jane Merchant celebrated her 90th birthday on Wednesday, by being reunited with her friend Biscuit.

Biscuit isn’t like most friends. He never leaves the waterfront and is hand painted and hand carved. Biscuit is one of the many animals that make up North Bay’s Heritage Carousel.

Merchant travelled nearly 1500 kilometres to North Bay from her hometown of Georgetown, South Carolina to visit her daughter.

She didn’t think she would be able to visit her friend Biscuit, because the carousel isn’t normally open in October, but with the help of the Heritage Carousel volunteer Dan Pigeau, Merchant had the surprise of a lifetime.

“Riding the carousel brings back so many memories from childhood,” Merchant said.

“There’s something about it, I hope they are always in existence.”

Merchant first met Biscuit four years ago before having hip surgery. When she saw the animals being painted, during the construction of the carousel, the brown horse gave her the inspiration needed to recover from her surgery.

One year later, when the construction was complete, she had the chance to go for a ride.

“My daughter said to me ‘ you don’t have to get up on the horse you can sit on a comfortable chair,’” Merchant said.

“But I said ‘to heck I can,’ I’m going to ride a horse.”

She explained that she first rode a carousel in Atlantic City when she was a young girl.

“My grandmother took me…but then it was just a simple merry-go-round,” she said.

“The two of us would ride the merry-go-rounds at country fairs, but after that it was a number of years, then low and behold Biscuit came along.”

Merchant explained that many people ask her how she can still travel and stay active at her age, but she believes that she has no other choice.

“What’s my alternative, to sit and rot looking at television? No way, not at all,” she explained.

“I’ll be coming here for many more years. Who knows maybe on my hundredth birthday I’ll be riding on the carousel.”