SEASIDE HEIGHTS - The power to a Jersey Shore boardwalk icon will be shut off by the end of this weekend.

People can take a final spin on the Casino Pier Carousel this Saturday and Sunday before the amusement ride will be disassembled in preparation for its future relocation to the north end of the boardwalk.

But whether the carousel will ever be turned on again depends on whether money can be found to refurbish it, borough officials said.

The borough, which took ownership of the carousel after a controversial land swap, is looking to house it in a two-story museum with a gift shop it wants to build at Samson Avenue.

"It's running now, so my gut says it will run again in the future," Administrator Christopher Vaz told the Asbury Park Press.

Vaz said he took his last ride on the carousel this week. He said while the famed ride is shutting down Sunday, people will be able to view it at the Casino Pier location until September or October, when a contractor will take it apart.

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Seaside Heights is looking into creating a nonprofit foundation that would help raise money to help pay for repairs to the historic merry-go-round, and could also assist with operating costs once it has been placed in the new boardwalk building.

"There were a lot of people that wanted the carousel saved. So now we have it, so hopefully they'll come forward and contribute to the nonprofit," Vaz said.

Casino Pier has a clock on its website counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the 100-plus-year-old ride will be turned off at 4 p.m. Sunday.

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The Dr. Floyd L. Moreland Dentzel/Looff Carousel, as it's formally known, has been in Seaside Heights since 1932. See the 100-year anniversary of the carousel in the above video.

The carousel though was built in 1910 and initially was located at Burlington Island Park near the Delaware River.

A 1928 fire destroyed most of that amusement park, but only partially damaged the carousel. It was fixed, disassembled and moved to Seaside Heights during the Great Depression.

It is named after Moreland, 76, who lives nearby in Toms River's Ortley Beach section. Moreland oversaw the restoration of the badly deteriorated carousel in the 1980s.

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The borough and Casino Pier's owners completed a land swap in exchange for the carousel in 2017.

In July 2014, Casino Pier's owners, the Storinos, decided to sell the iconic carousel at auction. The owners said the economy forced them to look for a new home for the ride. Declining ridership and the expense of maintaining the merry-go-round were the reasons the Storinos gave for selling the classic ride.

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Former Mayor William Akers came up with the idea for the carousel/land swap and took it to the Borough Council in late August 2014.

Under the deal, the Storino family traded the historic carousel and the parking lot located between Sampson and Carteret avenues for 1.36 acres of public beach on the north side of the pier.

The swap allowed the pier — badly damaged by superstorm Sandy in 2012 — to expand and add the new Hydrus rollercoaster and a 131-foot-high Ferris wheel.

The legality of land swap is still the subject of a federal probe.

Dan Radel: @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com