Silver Beach Carousel

MAKE THE HAPPIEST MEMORIES ALL YEAR AT THE SILVER BEACH CAROUSEL

This IS the happiest place in Southwest Michigan! Riding the Silver Beach Carousel and listening to lively organ music will send your heart soaring as you spin beneath 1,000 twinkling lights. Drop your token into the slot, then circle the Carousel deck to find your favorite figure from 48 hand-carved and painted horses, menagerie figures and two chariots. Climb on, listen for the bell and off you will go on your smile-filled adventure, up and down and around and around the Carousel House. What joy!

Everyone can ride all year round

The Carousel gives rides on weekends and extends its hours during the summer, and spring and winter school breaks. Check the website for current days and times. The Carousel closes in January for upgrades and repairs to ensure it is in tip-top shape for another safe, fun-filled season. 

What makes this Carousel especially magnificent is how the figures and chariots welcome everyone! The Serpent Chariot is wheelchair-accessible and earplugs are available to anyone with sensory sensitivities. There are stander figures that do not go up and down. The Peacock Chariot gently rocks back and forth, making it perfect for all ages, especially babies and toddlers. 

There’s a ramp to roll your wheelchair or walk up onto the Carousel deck. A stepladder is available or staff will offer a hand to help you mount or dismount your favorite figure. No one has to miss the fun!

More than a carousel ride

The Silver Beach Carousel can easily fill two or more hours with fun. There are free board games, outdoor activities, a mesmerizing miniature electric train display, a photo booth, a fascinating Silver Beach Amusement Park diorama plus lots of memorabilia in the attached museum. Stop by the refreshment stand for freshly popped corn, bags of caramel corn, fluffy cotton candy and drinks. The Brass Ring Gift Shop is chockful of toys, carousel collectibles, books and home decor must-haves. 

Your happy place for special occasions

You can rent the Carousel for birthday parties, weddings and other special occasions, or for taking the best photos ever! Check the events page for reasons to return often. 

While at the Carousel, walk down the boardwalk to the Curious Kids’ Discovery Zone Museum or from late spring to early fall, go across the road to the free Whirlpool Compass Fountain splash pad — the largest in Southwest Michigan!

The Carousel’s happily-ever-after story

The story of the Silver Beach Carousel goes back over 100 years! In 1910, Louis Wallace and Logan Drake brought a three-row, Coney Island-style carousel to their Silver Beach Amusement Park that once stood at the end of Broad Street along Lake Michigan.  What made this carousel so stunning, were the 44 realistic horses hand-carved and purchased from Charles Carmel. Today, six replicas of those white horses are on the new Carousel.  

In 1971 the amusement park closed and the carousel was sold to Marianne Stevens of Roswell, New Mexico. Attempts were made to purchase the carousel and bring it back to St. Joseph, but before enough funds could be raised, a group of businessmen from the Tri-Cities area of Washington State bought it in 2002. Undaunted by the setback, the Silver Beach Carousel Society wholeheartedly went to work to create the Carousel you ride today and offered the first rides to donors in January 2010. 

The Silver Beach Carousel Society, a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization licensed in Michigan, operates and maintains the Carousel. No funding comes from the City of St. Joseph. This Carousel is here today thanks to donations, sponsorships, memorial gifts, rentals and your purchases of tokens, refreshments and gifts from the shop. All our figures and chariots say thank you for any way you support us!