Vintage Carousels

Can you smell the cotton candy? Do you hear the barkers in the midway daring you to test your game skills? This five-stamp issue featuring vintage carousels from across Canada is designed to bring you back to the summer fun of your youth.

From their origins as a military training game in the 12th century, carousels had evolved by the mid-19th century to the mechanically powered fairground ride we still enjoy today. The five carousels featured, with their elaborately carved and painted animals and cheery band organ music, demonstrate both high artisan craftsmanship and impressive technological advances for their era.

The Lakeside Park Carousel, residing at Lakeside Park, in St. Catharines, Ontario, since 1921, still costs only a nickel to ride.

A rare three-row track machine, the Bowness Carousel arrived at the Heritage Park Historical Village, in Calgary, Alberta, in 1969.

Arriving in Canada in 1936, the C.W. Parker Carousel No. 119 has been a popular attraction at the Burnaby Village Museum, in Burnaby, British Columbia, since 1993.

The only Canadian carousel to receive the National Carousel Association Historic Carousel Award (in 2010), the Roseneath Carousel has been the pride of the Roseneath Fairgrounds, in Roseneath, Ontario, since 1932.

Le Galopant has been entertaining guests at La Ronde amusement park in Montréal, Quebec, since 2007. Originally powered by steam, the late 19th-century Belgian carousel first arrived in Canada to be part of Expo 67.

The issue was designed by Paprika and illustrated by René Milot in a whimsical style reminiscent of turn-of-the-century carnival and circus posters.