CarnivalMidways.Com

Source:Margaret Caldwell – The Desert Valley Times

Today I’ll write about my past — when I was really, really young. Our family had finally left the farm and moved to the small town of Ashley, Minnesota. My mother was trying to sell books by Billy Sunday and my father was not settled on what he would do. In fact, he was spending most of his time at my older sister’s house complaining and regretting his sale of the farm.

I was left in the care of my sister Abby who was supposedly going to high school, but there was no school during the summer so Abby took me down past the lumber mill where a traveling company had set up a merry-go-round and other booths.

My eyes bugged out at the sight of the gaily-colored ring of animals moving up and down. Abby left me there mesmerized. I don’t know where she went. Probably to see more of the booths.

I was about five years old.

I stood, probably with my finger in my mouth, until I felt a touch on my head and a kind voice said, “Would you like to ride?”

Before I could move the man motioned for the wheel to stop and then he put me up on a wooden horse and motioned for the wheel and the music to start again.

I was in heaven.

Think – the year was about 1912. What I’m telling you is true. The man who paid for my merry-go-round joy was a good-natured old gentleman who owned a lumberyard. He had seen my sister leave and wanted to make sure I was not abandoned.

Those days life was simple. People were kind. I remember it all and I thank God for the ability to bring the scene back to mind.

Today, a man would not dare to come near a child. He would be afraid he would be arrested for assault or attempted kidnapping.

I hate having to compare the simple past with what is happening today. I am not one of the old people who live in the past, but I understand why some do not want to see reality as it is today.

I’m sure Abby returned, because I got home to live the long life God has granted me.

Blessed be!

Margaret Caldwell, in her 104th year, is the world’s oldest newspaper columnist.

Source: By Chris Kaltenbach – The Baltimore Sun

Traveling carnivals take their midway rides on the road, delighting the kid in everyone

Karen Weber has spent some 15 years helping to run the spring carnival at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Essex. She knows what brings in the crowds — and it isn’t the food, or the goldfish toss, or even the chance to hang out with good friends while helping raise money for church and school.

Nah, what brings ‘em in are the rides: the Ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds and other mechanical contraptions that lift you up and spin you around, defying gravity and turning the whole world happily upside-down.

“They’re the draw-er,” she says, inventing a word appropriate to the occasion as she helps get things ready for the annual event, set this year for the weekend of April 30. “Everybody comes by, and they see the bright lights and the rides going on — it’s the first thing they want to do.”

Nothing says vacation and summer sunshine and take-it-easy better than carnivals and the rides they bring to town with them. In Baltimore, the unofficial start of the 2010 carnival season may be the annual Spring Fair at the Johns Hopkins University, which takes over the Homewood campus beginning today. Almost every weekend, straight through to Labor Day and beyond, there’ll be a carnival of some kind set up somewhere — on mall parking lots, alongside volunteer fire departments, near churches and schools. It’s like Ocean City’s boardwalk moving into the neighborhood for a few days.

“It’s very self-satisfying, that we’re in a business where the idea is to supply enjoyment to youngsters of all ages,” says Tom Gaylin, president of Rosedale Attractions and Shows, one of a handful of local businesses that spend their weekends hopping from one site to another, transforming parking lots and grassy fields into carnival midways. Last weekend, they were in Essex; Thursday, they began a 10-day stint at Colgate Park (North Point Boulevard and Baltimore Street) for the annual Colgate Carnival.

“Carnivals only come to the neighborhood one time a year,” adds Terrie Shaw, whose Severn-based Shaw & Sons is providing the rides for this weekend’s Spring Fair at Hopkins. “They’re something the kids really look forward to. That’s where the glamour is in this business, watching the kids have a good time.”

Adults get a kick out of things, too, says Brenda Davis of Annapolis-based Jolly Shows, which will be running a carnival in the parking lot of Security Square Mall from May 5-16. “It’s something they can do with the kids on the weekend, and they don’t have to go all the way to Kings Dominion or Six Flags. They can come and spend a couple of hours, and it’s not that expensive.”

For many, the carnival is a magical place, but for people like Gaylin, Shaw and Davis, it’s also a job, one that takes a lot of time and requires a good bit of muscle. Amusement companies usually spend between eight and 12 hours of hard labor setting up their carnival midways. Rosedale, which works 30 to 35 carnivals a year within a 150-mile radius of Baltimore, has some 30 rides in its collection, which it transports from place to place using 100 trucks. Shaw, which handles about 30 carnivals a year, owns 35 rides, including such crowd-pleasers as the senses-rattling Zipper, Rok N Roll and Gravitron.

After the kids have ridden themselves silly and Mom and Dad have picked up the pieces, after the parking lots are once again a place for cars and the grassy fields are waiting to be mowed, carnival operators are busy moving on to another town. “It’s really not a job, and it’s really not an occupation,” says Gaylin, whose family has been in the business since 1928. “It’s more a way of life than anything else.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Seeing people’s faces light up as they decide which ride to try next, listening to the festive music play as the bright lights shine and the delighted screams cascade down — there are worse ways to make a living.

“That’s the best part of it all,” says Davis, “watching the kids laugh and have fun.”

Source: AOL News

What good is a roadside attraction if it can’t sit along the side of the road? That’s the problem Gibsonton, Fla. — better known as Freaktown USA — is facing.

The town that was once home to the Monkey Girl, the Alligator Skinned Man and Lobster Boy is trying to preserve the memory of its most famous giant, Al Tomaini, with a memorial featuring a replica of his colossal boot. He reportedly stood 8 feet 4 inches tall.

Carol Philips, a former circus worker and wolf trainer, is spearheading the effort as chairwoman of the Concerned Citizens of Gibsonton. The group wants the monument to be placed along Highway 41, just south of Tampa and off the Alafia River.

That’s where the giant and his wife, Jeanie the Half Girl (she measured 2 feet 6 inches), built the Giant’s Camp restaurant and fishing cabins in the 1950s. It’s also where a huge Tomaini boot sat atop a concrete slab and served as a memorial for decades, until its recent deterioration.

However, the group faces one giant problem: Hillsborough County has said the monument must be set 50 feet away from the highway because it’s been designated as an accessory structure on commercial property.

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Source:By Keith Gebers – Citizen Staff Writer

Again this year the Elk Grove Western Festival, taking place the weekend of May 1, will feature a top line carnival.

Johnston Amusements is headquartered in Elk Grove, and is the oldest operating carnival company in California.

In addition to this year’s Elk Grove appearance, Johnston Amusements has just been signed to be the featured carnival at this year’s San Joaquin County Fair. The choice was based on the firm’s outstanding safety record.

Ken Johnston, who is also General Chairman of this year’s Western Festival, owns the firm.

“Some really outstanding rides will be featured at this year’s Western Festival Carnival,” said Johnston, “One of these is the historic Hammer, which is legendary.” Variations are also known by such names as Rock-O-Plane and Loop-O-Plane. The creator of the Hammer was Eyerly Aircraft Company in Oregon, which was has been purchased by Johnston Entertainment 10 years ago.

“We provide parts for over 4,000 rides for all over the world,” Johnston said. “The two main features of any carnival are the Ferris Wheel and Merry Go Round. We feature the most attractive traveling Ferris Wheel and Merry Go Rounds in the nation.”

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Source: By Barbara Tucker -The Tonawanda News

The small white sign on the door denoting the Allan Herschell Company gives little indication that the 3,000 square-foot space inside holds the life blood of the world’s amusement parks.

Ed Janulionis, who runs the company located on Erie Avenue in North Tonawanda, not only has the history of the Allan Herschell Co. in original plans, drawings, patterns and tooling that reach back to the early 1900s, but also has a mind full of interesting details and history.

When Chance Rides Manufacturing Co. bought the Herschell Carrousel Co. from the Wendler Family in Buffalo, the company moved to Wichita, Kansas, keeping the Herschell name.

In 1997, Chance decided to auction off what was left of the Herschell Company.

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