NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee State Museum and the State of Tennessee have issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit responses from parties interested in partnering with the Museum in the restoration, placement, and operation of the Red Grooms Fox Trot Carousel. The Tennessee State Museum is now exploring the options of a public-private partnership to successfully plan for a future for the carousel that prioritizes public benefit.
“The Tennessee State Museum understands the deep cultural significance of the Red Grooms Fox Trot Carousel to the Tennessee community, and its place in cultural history,” says Ashley Howell, executive director of the Tennessee State Museum. “We have for many years received inquires as to the status of the carousel, along with suggestions as to how and where it ought to be installed. We are now creating a formal process for interested parties with viable suggestions to make those plans known. If you have a realistic and feasible plan for the carousel, and can implement that plan, we’d like to hear from you.”
History of the Red Grooms Fox Trot Carousel
The Fox Trot Carousel is a Tennessee-themed merry-go-round created by artist Red Grooms that features 36 figures from Tennessee history, including Andrew Jackson, David Crockett, Wilma Rudolph, Charlotte Robinson, Moses and Calvin McKissack, Sequoyah, Grantland Rice and more. With the support of individuals and corporations who supported the nonprofit Fox Trot Corporation, the carousel was finished in 1998 and stationed in an open-air pavilion at Riverfront Park in Nashville. The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation (then the NCVB) in partnership with the Metro Nashville assisted the Fox Trot Corporation in its management of the ride. During its operations, thousands of visitors rode the carousel until ridership declined in the early 2000s.
In 2003, the Carousel was transferred from the Tennessee Fox Trot Corporation to the Tennessee State Museum and placed in storage to await its next chapter. In 2019, the Tennessee State Museum and the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission created a working committee of the Commission to explore next steps with the Carousel and complete an assessment of the carousel condition. Planning for the carousel was paused in 2020 due to the pandemic and the Museum’s focus on a new storage facility for the state’s collection. The Tennessee State Museum is now exploring the options of a public-private partnership to successfully plan for a future of the carousel that prioritizes public benefit.
To ensure transparency and fairness to all interested parties, the RFI will provide the process for interested parties. Information regarding this process can be found at: tn.gov/generalservices.
The RFI can be accessed directly at this link: tn.gov/content/dam/tn.
All questions regarding the Carousel and the RFI should be directed to Will Harmon, [email protected], Sourcing Account Specialist, in the Central Procurement Office of the Department of General Services.
About Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee America 250:
Celebrating its 88th Anniversary in 2025, the Tennessee State Museum, located on the corner of Rosa L Parks Blvd. and Jefferson Street at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, is your home to thousands of years of Tennessee history, art, and culture. Through six permanent exhibitions titled Natural History, First Peoples, Forging a Nation, The Civil War and Reconstruction, Change and Challenge and Tennessee Transforms, the Museum takes visitors on a journey–through artifacts, films, interactive displays, events and educational and digital programing–from the state’s geological beginnings to the present day.
Additional temporary exhibitions explore significant periods and individuals in history, along with art and cultural movements. The Museum is free and open to the public Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. For more information on exhibitions and events, please visit TNMuseum.org.
The Museum is also the headquarters of the Tennessee Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial, created to plan, encourage, develop, and coordinate the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, and recognize Tennessee's integral role in that event and the impact of its people on the nation's past, present, and future. For more information about the commission, its grant program, signature events and support for other programming and institutions statewide, please visit TN250.com.
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