I worked in law enforcement in Richland County (Mansfield) for a little over a decade. The town can be deceiving: there are some very high crime areas. I would steer clear of the Trimble Road hotels and the downtown Holiday Inn. Go out to Ontario, which is a little more of a drive but a lot less crime.
The carousel is nice and in a rehabed area of downtown. There used to be a nice diner called the Coney Island nearby (don't confuse it with the Coney Island on the square, which is not very nice). John's Hobby Shop is right downtown (walking distance from the carousel) and is a great full service hobby shop with a knowledgable staff. Crowe shoes is also downtown, and it's a place where they actually still know how to measure your feet and have a staff with a median age of over 16. The building shown in Shawshank where Brooks was supposed to be living and where he hanged himself is a couple of blocks from the carousel, assuming it's not been torn town since I moved away in '06.
Other tidbits: up until the late-90's the City of Mansfield actually had a city ordinance that prohibited the fire department from engaging in the ambulance business. The firefighters union got it repealed and they took over EMS. The ordinance was a protectionist move by Jess Byrd, who ran Byrd Ambulance years ago, which was the city's largest ambulance provider. I remember interviewing a guy who lived in rural Ontario who had a Byrd limo style ambulance from the 60's sitting in his backyard rotting. I wish I could remember his name or address.
Byrd Ambulance morfed into Mansfield Ambulance Service. The last I knew they were still headquartered in the same building that Byrd Ambulance occupied in the 70's on Marion Ave. The owner of the company, Tom Durbin, is a friendly guy and local politician. You might think about stopping by to say hello.
Wapner Funeral Home is in Mansfield, and they provided ambulance service late into the funeral home ambulance era as I recall. Tom Wapner is one of the owners, and he was at the meet in Hudson, so he's probably "PCS friendly". It was my understanding that Wapner formed Medic Response Ambulance Service and was and is a primary owner in that company, although it is completely separate from the funeral home business.
A visit to Mansfield isn't complete without a visit to the Kingwood Center, which is a former private estate open to the public with beautiful gardens.
