The Penhale family has expressed its excitement that the Lions Club and the Bayfield Historical Society are honouring Tom Penhale’s horse drawn carriages.
Tom Penhale’s landau carriages have become famous around the world. His son, Rick Penhale, said his father started building wagons and carriages in 1972 and he worked beside his father for all of those years. He thinks the two-cow barn with a glass front as a home on Main Street is great.
“What a wonderful tribute,” said Penhale. “We’re so thankful that people think of the history in Bayfield the way they do. We’re so excited about this. It’s just hard to believe. My father, if he was alive right now, he would be totally blown away by this.”
The carriages became famous all over the world. Several were sold to Walt Disney and they also appeared in a few Rose Bowl parades.
“We do have two at a resort hotel in Taiwan,” Penhale said. “Our largest order was 36 that we sent to the Westin Hotel in Hawaii. But unfortunately, about 20 years ago, I believe that it was devastated by a hurricane. So I think the carriages that survived it made it back to the mainland.”
The Lions Club and Bayfield Historical Society are well on their way to raising enough money to build the two-cow barn with a glass front that will be home for the landau carriage and placed in front of the Archives building on the Main Street of Bayfield by next summer.
Read original story from Midwestern Ontario News – BlackburnNews.com