the_rock401
Monday, May 10, 2004 7:06:17 AM
We all have had a few close scrapes with weather, tornadoes, hail, downbursts, etc. on the carnival/fairgrounds. Let's hear a few of them.

The closest I have been is at a horse show at a county fair, a wall cloud went right over the fairgrounds. Even though the fair wasn't supposed to close down til 10 (it was around 5:00 PM), everyone jammed the roads out of town.

Paul
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you have to take a rain check.

DON'T FEED THE TROLL
orphaned
Monday, May 10, 2004 9:46:28 AM
Our 2nd year of the county fair, we had rented tents to use as livestock barns the weekend BEFORE the midway opened. We had our dairy/beef shows and then cleaned out the tents..and just left them standing as it was going to be Tuesday before the tent guy could come remove them.

Monday night, we open at 5pm...and the crowds start pouring in...at about 6:15pm we have a Severe Thunderstorm roll through. It rained nearly an inch in 20 minutes...we had hail the size of quarters and winds in excess of 50 mph.

Several stick joints on the midway were blown down...and people ran to get under the tents we'd used for livestock. In one big swoop, the wind lifted a tent up...literally pulled the stakes out of the ground..and dropped it on the people. Only minor injury was when one person was hit in the head by the center pole...and she got a pretty good bump on her head. Fortunately she was the mother of a fair board member.

Since then, we're prepared....and we make sure people dont get under tents.
Skywheelrider
Monday, May 10, 2004 10:10:32 AM
Good topic. Whoo, where do I start, lol. Been on many a midway when a storm came up. One of the worst was August 1996 at the Monroe County Fair in Monroe, Michigan. When we got there, the sun was shining bright, a few clouds, nothing but beautiful weather. After about one hour it started getting really dark, they turned on all the lights on the rides, and then the wind starting kicking up. I got a spectacular photo of the storm clouds rolling in behind CVS' Sky Wheel. It was quite a sight to behold. I was next to a concession trailer, and hastily bought a bag of cotton candy, and we proceeded to eat the whole bag in just a couple of minutes so I could have a place to put my camera, lol. Quite a sight to see lightning bolts raining down behind the midway as we ran for cover. [:0]

Another spot that was bad was Orchard Lake, Michigan back in 2001. I got there and yep the sun was out, the wind was blowing, a nice warm late afternoon, and as I was videotaping the 1001 Nachts you could see the dark clouds coming in, and within I swear not more than five minutes it started pouring rain, lightning, thunder, dark, high winds, the whole bit. Got some interesting video after the rains stopped of a few rides running with loud crashes of thunder for audio, lol. Low rides, mind you. [^]

A couple more involved the Ohio State Fair in 1997 and again in 2001, got stormed on both times. In 1997 my friend and I were riding the A of A Giant Wheel, it was late evening, and it had gotten quite cloudy, and here we are sitting at the top, after a run of the wheel, looking at downtown Columbus all lit up, and I start seeing lightning bolts, big giant streaks through the sky. Now that was scary, being close to 100 feet in the air with that going on. In 2001 we got off the Sky Wheel at night and started walking back to the exit and it started pouring rain, thunder, lightning, the whole bit. Got drenched both times. [:(!]

And when I was about, oh, seven years old, maybe eight, my family went to a church festival not too far north of our house at that time, and my Dad and I hopped on Motor State Shows' Eli Wheel, and the guy left us on it seemed like forever, even as it started to thunder and lightning. I remember my Dad hollering at the guy to stop the wheel, but for quite awhile the guy ignored us before finally letting us off, just as it started to rain. My Dad said he would have complained at the office, but when the heavy rains came, he just wanted to get us home. [V]

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -- Mark Twain
JustinJames
Monday, May 10, 2004 10:44:32 AM
Mt. Clemens Michigan 1996. Some of you know what I'm refering to.
Skywheelrider
Monday, May 10, 2004 10:54:16 AM
Quote:

quote:


Originally posted by JustinJames

Mt. Clemens Michigan 1996. Some of you know what I'm refering to.

Yep. Glad I was not there. [;)]
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -- Mark Twain
Bossman
Monday, May 10, 2004 11:09:46 AM
Bad Weather! Well, I remember in February '44, I was driving a 4x4 Ford, with 4 in the floor pulling a two story snow cone trailer going thru Montana. The wind was so high that it blew the trailer and the wacky shack behind me into Canada. First year we played Canada, ask Bryan, John C, cny_chris and Mamatiger.
orphaned
Monday, May 10, 2004 11:11:49 AM
Anyone want to clue us in on the Mt Clemens Michigan thing????
Skywheelrider
Monday, May 10, 2004 11:12:18 AM
Quote:

quote:


Originally posted by Bossman

Bad Weather! Well, I remember in February '44, I was driving a 4x4 Ford, with 4 in the floor pulling a two story snow cone trailer going thru Montana. The wind was so high that it blew the trailer and the wacky shack behind me into Canada. First year we played Canada, ask Bryan, John C, cny_chris and Mamatiger.

Bossman you are just too much. That is funny. [;)]
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -- Mark Twain
Bossman
Monday, May 10, 2004 11:22:51 AM
That wasn't all of it, Mamatiger was pulling her homemade Taco stand and the last reported sighting of it was over Regina, Saskatchewan, where it was shot down by the Canadian Air Force. The remains of the stand are now near Roswell, New Mexico at a place called area 51. The air force finally ruled it as a Mexician WMD.
Bossman
Monday, May 10, 2004 11:31:13 AM
One other thing, John C and Bryan were pulling the G-Top and it landed near Swift Current. Winston Churchhill had it shipped to London and used it as a secret meeting place for he and the Queen. Cny_chris was pulling the mgr and cc and the mgr landed in Calgary where the horses were used by the Royal Mounted Police. It was the worst year business wise because we only had Mexician money and it was hard to convert over to Canadian money, but we sure did mount up the air miles that season. This was the very first season of the Four Amigos and Her Amusements.
Bill P
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Monday, May 10, 2004 6:02:35 PM
Drove thru the 1998 storm which killed two at the NY State Fair. I would have been on the grounds if my car had not been parked on the racetrack which had to be cleared by midnight. As a result I left the fair at 11:45 and drove right into the storm around 12:30AM near Geneva,NY. Lightning was so frequent and bright that I drove with the sun visor down at 1 AM. At one point I turned the headlights off and could still see clearly due to continuous flashing. [ No, I didn't leave them off!] Six cars settled in behind a semi and crawled along at 15MPH. We stayed spaced about 50 yards apart, just far enough so we could still see each other.
Raido forecasts gave almost no warning, just "chance of a thundershower".

carnivalangel14
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 3:10:13 AM
I remember quite well about one day at the Livonia Spree. It was either last year or the year before. (But then again, seems like every year we get at least one bad day of weather there.) Anywho, me and my cousin was just getting off the White Water ride when it started to rain real hard and lighting and thunder out. People were freaking out and running all around. The police came and told everyone to leave the carnival ASAP cause there was a tornado or something near. And my Aunt was real scared (she gets over reacted all the time over everything) and she was screaming for me and my cousin to run to the car. I was bursting out laughing. But back to the weather topic, it was pretty bad that day.

~Vanessa~
*_ Agility~ My anti drug!!_*
Skywheelrider
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 3:19:07 AM
Quote:

quote:


Originally posted by carnivalangel14

I remember quite well about one day at the Livonia Spree. It was either last year or the year before. (But then again, seems like every year we get at least one bad day of weather there.) Anywho, me and my cousin was just getting off the White Water ride when it started to rain real hard and lighting and thunder out. People were freaking out and running all around. The police came and told everyone to leave the carnival ASAP cause there was a tornado or something near. And my Aunt was real scared (she gets over reacted all the time over everything) and she was screaming for me and my cousin to run to the car. I was bursting out laughing. But back to the weather topic, it was pretty bad that day.

~Vanessa~

That was two years ago, I was there that night, too. The police were going around the midway warning people that a storm was on its way, they should seek shelter. Opening night, actually. I had already taken enough photos, so I decided to leave, and it was a good thing I did, it was quite the storm. [^]
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -- Mark Twain
carnivalangel14
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 3:20:42 AM
Quote:

quote:


Originally posted by Skywheelrider

Quote:

quote:


Originally posted by carnivalangel14

I remember quite well about one day at the Livonia Spree. It was either last year or the year before. (But then again, seems like every year we get at least one bad day of weather there.) Anywho, me and my cousin was just getting off the White Water ride when it started to rain real hard and lighting and thunder out. People were freaking out and running all around. The police came and told everyone to leave the carnival ASAP cause there was a tornado or something near. And my Aunt was real scared (she gets over reacted all the time over everything) and she was screaming for me and my cousin to run to the car. I was bursting out laughing. But back to the weather topic, it was pretty bad that day.

~Vanessa~

That was two years ago, I was there that night, too. The police were going around the midway warning people that a storm was on its way, they should seek shelter. Opening night, actually. I had already taken enough photos, so I decided to leave, and it was a good thing I did, it was quite the storm. [^]



Yea, take shelter!! Lol

~V~
*_ Agility~ My anti drug!!_*
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