The carousel opens for its 142nd consecutive season on Saturday, April 15, when the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust will unveil panels newly refurbished by artist Margot Datz.

The Flying Horses carousel building in Oak Bluffs was briefly evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a small fire in a popcorn machine.

No whinnying or stamping came from inside the Flying Horses Carousel on Saturday morning. But the horses were in there waiting for children, as they have for more than 140 years.

Blue skies, brisk winds, the sound of organ music in downtown Oak Bluffs--it must be spring on the Vineyard.

A barrel piano provided the musical accompaniment to the carousel when it was first moved to the Vineyard in 1884 from Coney Island. This one came from Barcelona and is 100 years old.

An orchestrated commotion runs the length of Circuit avenue playing the music of summer. Strolling clusters of tourists plan their days as they negotiate the narrow sidewalks, crowd open-air eateries and ice cream shops, hold debates over T-shirts and people-watch from storefront benches. All the while cars crawl up the street stopping and starting.

You can take your ospreys and pinkletinks, your snowdrops, too. Nature is not the only harbinger of spring. Bring on the horses — The Flying Horses.

On Saturday, March 30, at 11 a.m. the nation’s oldest platform carousel opens for its 138th season.

Many children are instantly enchanted by the Oak Bluffs institution known as the Flying Horses. But a recently published children’s book, When Horses Fly, gives new meaning to the horses’ flight.

One night as a young girl named Caroline struggles to fall asleep, the Flying Horses carousel appears to her outside her house. Suddenly, one of the painted horses magically flies off the carousel and lets Caroline ride her, giving her a chance to say a final goodbye to her pet horse Nutmeg, who had died months ago.

The Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Society> may think it owns the Flying Horses. And of course we’re glad the living history group is under that impression. Who among us wants to start our day with, “Honey, the Wurlitzer is broken, can you spray it with WD-40 and bang the pipes?” But yes, we do individually own the 125-plus-year-old carousel. It nestles in our memories and is tucked into our hearts.

And now it’s spring again and the merry-go-round is open on weekends. Over Easter it cranked out its first ride and organ standard.

Since the age of two Satonya Hill has made her yearly visit to ride her favorite golden horse at the Flying Horses carousel in Oak Bluffs. Part of the magic for Satonya and her family was that every time her friends took their first ride on the Flying Horses, they would catch the brass ring.