Where Pigs Fly

Gale Joh’s fascination with carousels began in Binghamton, New York, where he spent his boyhood riding the city’s six merry-go-rounds. In 2008 at age 72, he told his wife, Valerie, that Kingsport, Tennessee—the couple’s home for over three decades—should have its own carousel.  

Valerie, a businesswoman and Kingsport alderman at the time, knew that the wooden, menagerie-style carousel her husband wanted would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and that the city would scoff at such a frivolous suggestion. Her response to Gale was an emphatic, “When pigs fly!” 

Though Gale was determined, he sadly didn’t live to see his dream fulfilled. But as of this past summer—some seven years after his wife told him it would never happen, and five years after his passing—pigs have been flying at the newly opened Kingsport Carousel.

“I’d never carved anything at all, not even a bar of soap,” admits Valerie, a onetime art major. The desire to see her husband’s dream become reality was a powerful motivator, so she started carving animals including—what else?—a pig. She named the critter Pickle and gave her a place of honor atop the ticket booth. Valerie also carved two sweep animals (smaller animals in the rafters above the carousel)—a unicorn and a pink tutu-wearing Siamese ballerina cat named Sassy that little girls find irresistible.

Before illness took hold, Gale had called on his friend Reggie Martin, a retired chemist and woodworker, to spearhead the project and recruit volunteers. Ted Heilig remembers raising his hand    during a Kiwanis Club meeting when the call went out for volunteers to attend classes at Horsin’ Around, a carousel animal carving studio near Chattanooga. 

“I’d never done anything like this before and didn’t realize what a time commitment it would be,” says Heilig. “Each carousel animal represents some 1,000 man hours. Considering we have 32 animals, two chariots, plus 24 sweep animals, that’s a lot of time.” Heilig estimates 60,000 volunteer hours have gone into the project. 

His pride is obvious, and for good reason. The attention to detail is impressive. With elaborate carvings, eye-popping colors, whimsical expressions, and striking poses, the animals easily capture the imaginations of young and old.  

Over 300 volunteers—including carvers, artists, painters, and mechanics—have made the Kingsport Carousel a popular East Tennessee destination. But it’s not only the ride and animals that entertain visitors. The town’s history plays out in colorful murals on the carousel’s 24 rounding boards, while original paintings of birds, wildflowers, and butterflies common to the Kingsport Birding Trail decorate the area below. And it’s impossible to overlook the giant buffalo standing on the sidelines. He weighs in at a whopping 640 pounds—a perfect photo op for up to seven people willing to climb on. 

A forthcoming book will chronicle the process and highlight animals and their artists. It will include backstories about the serendipitous occurrences that Valerie Joh says prove that her late husband was overseeing the project from the beyond—“taking it all in, smoothing the way.”

The city never did scoff at the idea, actually donating property where the carousel sits inside the 65-foot octagonal “Pal’s Roundhouse” in historic downtown Kingsport.

The Kingsport Carousel is wheelchair accessible and open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 1 to 7 p.m. weekends, groups/tours by appointment. Rides cost $1. 423-392-8414; engagekingsport.com.