Nunley's Carousel, at the Long Island Children's Museum in Uniondale, reopens to riders on Wednesday after 10 months

A historic Long Island carousel will reopen its assembly of horses for the public to enjoy before the summer ends.

Nunley's Carousel, at the Long Island Children’s Museum in Uniondale, will open to riders on Wednesday after 10 months of being closed for repairs.

"We are so excited," said Erika Floreska the museum's president.

To celebrate the reopening, the carousel will operate on extended hours on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum also will host a special carousel pop-up to bring awareness of its reopening.

Floreska said the carousel would be open on Wednesdays through Sundays from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. for the remainder of August.

It will be open on weekends in September.

The carousel closed in October after the top part of one of its eight gears was found broken off during a maintenance check, Floreska said.

"We’re telling kids the carousel lost a tooth," she said, referring to the gear's triangle-shaped top.

The eight connected gears, which are about 4 feet long and weigh around 300 pounds each, rotate underneath and are responsible for spinning the carousel.

The carousel has a total of 41 horses and one lion, and features an original Wurlitzer 153 band organ.

"If you lose one tooth it could create a hiccup and it could break the whole machine," Floreska said.

The broken piece was an original carousel gear that was built in 1912. The carousel was restored in 2007 by the restoration company Carousel Works in Ohio, which has since gone out of business.

"Carousel repair folk are very hard to find. It is a niche market," Floreska said. "Things have changed since 113 years ago."

The children's museum used WRF Designs, a carousel restoration company, which said this was a "very typical" issue for older carousels to have, Floreska said.

The company took the broken piece out and degreased the machine while Reno Machine Company, which does precision metal work, created two new gears in case this occurs in the future.

While the original gears are made of cast iron, the replacements were made from steel.

The museum also owns Reno Machine Company’s computer-aided design drawings to help them in the future.

"The goal is to restore it for generations to come," Floreska said.

Museum employees and patrons highly anticipate the reopening of the carousel as it is a popular space for children’s birthday parties, reunions, baby showers and engagement photo shoots.

The carousel had a waitlist for parties when it was closed and has already booked its first party since reopening, Floreska said.

On days of operation, there’s always someone who says they grew up riding it in its former home in Baldwin, she said.

"Nunley’s is such a part of Long Island history," Floreska said. "We hope people will come back and relive their Nunley’s memories."