Parking Lot Carnivals

[Anrhydeddu]

One of the more enduring icons of American roadside culture (there's that word again), is Parking Lot Carnivals. I am reminded of this because this week, we have one set up at a big mall. I used to go these when I was a kid but it had been so long since I had done so. Since my little boy is old enough (6 yrs), I want to introduce him to these rides and attractions. We checked it out after work yesterday and he seemed to be very interesting in doing some of the things. We will go back after work today, before it gets dark (which is the key thing). But there is a fascinating sub-culture of parking lot carnivals that has been documented and quite known to many. Here was something I just dug up

From Teleport City (http://www.teleport-city.com/life/fair01.html) (I have no idea what Teleport City is)

It was April then, and the frost had just broken. Winter was reluctantly releasing its brief but definite grasp on North Central Florida, and we were beginning the brisk trot back to the familiar atmosphere of sweltering one-hundred degree days. To mark the occasion, one of those parking lot carnivals set itself up in the sprawling lot shared by the Albertson's grocery store and the bankrupt, deserted Gainesville Mall, which had never really even been a mall and was about to get torn down so they could build a new K-Mart.

Legendary death traps these carnivals, run by grimy, weasely vagrants who couldn't even hold a steady job down at Coney Island. Green-toothed cacklers who lived on the carnival trail like nomads, going wherever the rides took them, one step ahead of delinquent child support payments and determined skip tracers.

Or so the rumors would have you believe, and truth be told, it's a hell of a lot more fun if you go in thinking that these guys aren't paying attention to the ride you're on because they're busy burying their latest victim or finalizing some heroin deal. It's certainly more interesting than the army of fake, smiling teens who run America's big amusement parks. Why would we trust them but not some grizzled old man with a cracked glass eye and a baseball hat with the phrase, "Eat Shit and Die" silk-screened on the front?


Just some Friday musings.

[Franklinnoble]

You've tried very hard to make something altogether mundane seem somewhat interesting. I don't know if I should commend you or slap you.

[Anrhydeddu]

Franklin, my wife is scared to death of me taking Sean there (esp. after I described some of the carnival folks and ride conditions that I witnessed yesterday). I want to get him out of the house and experience our diverse culture and landscape. I'm a regional geographer, that's my bias.

[FrogMan]

Anrhy, you're freaking me out. We had just planned to take Andrew to a little fair like that. Freaky coincidence you'd dig something like that about 30 minutes after the wife had called me to let me know the carnival is in town and the kid would like to go :)

FM

[Easy Mac]

2 people were killed at a roadside amusement thing last year just down the road from my school. A worker killed them in his trailer.

[Franklinnoble]

You ever see the bearded lady out a the carnival? Ugly as sin... but a sweet gal, and a helluva good cook.

[Craptacular]

I am a carniephobe.

edit: Carnyphobe, carneyphobe, whatever.

[mrsimperless]

small hands....smell like cabbage....

[Airhog]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
You ever see the bearded lady out a the carnival? Ugly as sin... but a sweet gal, and a helluva good cook.

I will assume that you had sex with her after you ate dinner with her....

[Easy Mac]

http://www.fadproductions.com/images/harryman.jpg

I think he had sex with this bearded woman. I tried to tell him its a man, but he wouldn't listen.

[albionmoonlight]

One of these carneys set up every year in the field by my house. Good times. Take the kid. Please take the kid. Nothing can illustrate the concept of the "sucker" better than the ring toss game. Tell Ms. A that you are taking Sean there for educational purposes.

[Anrhydeddu]

That recalls an embarassing time my brother (who is two yrs younger than I) went to the fair in Del Mar about 20+ yrs ago. We got smitten with carny chick that ran the darts board to get "free" casettes. We must have spent $30 over 45 minutes, not fully realizing that all of the hotspots on the dart board were metal plugs. She felt pity on us and gave us a handful of obsure bands.

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by Craptacular
I am a carniephobe.

edit: Carnyphobe, carneyphobe, whatever.

Me too. I can't stand carnivals or circuses. Those people freak me out.

[Fonzie]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Me too. I can't stand carnivals or circuses. Those people freak me out.

Ditto. I'm especially freaked out by the clowns.

Hobo clowns seem to tap into a fear circuit in my brain. I see them and I run. Nope, ain't nothin' worse than hobo clowns.

Except maybe mimes.

*shivers*

[Blackadar]

Now introducing..."HUGE MIDGETS!"

[CamEdwards]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
http://www.fadproductions.com/images/harryman.jpg

I think he had sex with this bearded woman. I tried to tell him its a man, but he wouldn't listen.

God it looks like Eric Stotlz ate the entire cast of "Some Kind of Wonderful".

[Alan T]

My wife won't let our kids go to roadside carnivals. She has no problem with the kids going to amusement parks that have certain requirements from the government . Most roadside carnivals have very little oversight other than what OSHA has set aside, but the inspection process is poor or substandard for them. You have a much higher rate of injury or death per person at roadside carnivals unfortunatly.

I used to love them as a kid though, but now watching out for my kids, I no longer consider them as cool I suppose..

[Anrhydeddu]

Sean and I spent two hours there and had a great time. He was able to do most everything by himself except we didn't do the bigger kids rides. I know it was somewhat of a risk but the only other choice is to wait for the State Fair which would require going to Pueblo. I would rather walk to hell and back then go to Pueblo.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by CamEdwards
God it looks like Eric Stotlz ate the entire cast of "Some Kind of Wonderful".

good one!

[Taur]

Two words....STATE FAIR

Attending the State Fair is always an anual tradition.

Live concerts every night of former 80s bands and upcoming young country bands. During the Day check out the tractor pulls and pie eating contests. Getting thirsty you can head over to the Beer Gardens and get yourself a "Yard" of Beer. Then it is down Carnival Lane to replay all those Cheesy Games I loved as a kid.

Yeah, nothing beats the State Fair.

[Anrhydeddu]

Only if you live in a state that has real State Fair (like most of the East and Midwest). The New York State Fair was, without a doubt, the highlight each year of my childhood. It is the oldest, most traditional and longest-run State Fair in the country, and right in my back yard in Syracuse. Heck, even the rural County Fairs were really good. The three states that I've lived in the West, Arizona, California and Colorado, do not have a State Fair tradition and considering the population size of Colorado, the one in Pueblo is poorly attended - for very good reasons.

[Dutch]

About 20 years ago me and my buddy were on a ride called the sidewinder in Mississippi. It was loop in a big circle into the sky and the car you sat in would just roll left or right and do flips the entire time, and about 10 seconds into the ride, the door broke loose and we hung on for dear life, scared to absolute death (as 11 year olds). When we finally got off, the guy operating this thing was laughing his ass off.

We never went back on the sidewinder...