COEUR d’ALENE — Growing up in Springfield, Mo., Ann Dare loved riding the carousel at the amusement park.

She didn’t have much of a choice.

“My mom wouldn’t let me ride anything but the carousel,” she said. “To this day, I’m terrified of roller coasters.”

Tuesday morning, Dare was back where she belonged with her first ride on the Coeur d’Alene Carousel.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

Dare was joined by about 25 members of the Cancer and Community Charities Funables group, of which she is the chair.

Their goal was to support the Carousel Foundation and have fun as they prepare to approve more than $100,000 in grant applications today.

The Funables monthly outings have included digging for gems and touring mines.

“We like to say we pay to play,” Dare said, smiling.

“Helping somebody while having fun,” said Marni Briunansky, 3Cs member.

Tuesday, the group of generous ladies enjoyed riding the horses that came from the historic carousel from Coeur d'Alene's Playland Pier that operated from 1942-1974.

Artist and 3Cs member Christina Hull said the carousel holds a special place in her heart. Several members of her family worked there when they were teens and her father worked at the pier.

“Blessed and happy to be a part of it,” she said after taking a ride. “It takes you back to being a little kid.”

Atsuko Kroetch, a 3Cs member, designed and made the eight stained-glass windows that let light in from above the carousel. She said she created them as a gift to the community with hopes they would “give a smile to everyone," which they did Tuesday.

“I found something to reciprocate to all the nice people in this town,” Kroetch said.

Barb Nelson, another 3Cs member, adopted a black pony on the carousel, No. 13, and named it "Lucky."

Last year, her donation to the carousel funded six floor tiles to honor six people — Richard LeFrancis, Rita Sims-Snyder, Kroetch, Hull, Debbie Wieser and Bud Ford.

"I love promoting the carousel," Nelson wrote to The Press.

The carousel is 100 years old.

The Spillman Junior carousel was hand-carved by the Herschell-Spillman Engineering Company in North Tonawanda, N.Y., in 1922, according to the foundation website. The carousel has 20 ponies and two chariots. It is not known what year it first made its way to Coeur d'Alene for permanent installation at Playland Pier.

National Carousel Day is Monday. The Coeur d’Alene Carousel will celebrate with free rides from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will also have a 100th birthday party with vendors, treats and activities for kids.

“Pretty amazing that our carousel is 100 years old and still providing joy to thousands each season,” wrote Rita Snyder, president of the Coeur d'Alene Carousel Foundation.