thunderbolt85
Friday, May 24, 2019 7:36:44 AM
GOOD SIDE:

1. When you're about to sign that new fair contract you notice under "spectacular" the following ride examples are listed:
a. Loop O Plane
b. Roll O Plane
c. Round Up

2. Messing with green help by asking them to find the light bulb grease, or the key to the midway.

3. A newly appointed fair committee asks you how much they need to pay you to come to their fair.

4. All DOT scale stops are closed on your upcoming 500 mile jump.

5. A group of "millennial" PETA members arrive at your office demanding to inspect the elephant ride, you calmly walk them over to the fiberglass pachyderms.

6. The local amusement park in the town your playing this week has closed all week for yearly R&M.

7. As your making the jump to the next spot you notice many loads of a competing show that is playing the same town as you parked either on the side of the road or in the DOT weight stations along the way.

BAD SIDE:

1. As you are leaving town after a long tear down you notice the 3 loads of your Super Himalaya lined up in the McDonalds drive thru.

2. You just pulled onto the lot of a new spring shopping mall date on a Sunday afternoon with most of your loads and you decide to drive around the mall to find a place to eat. As you get around to the other side you notice out of the corner of your eye the last loads of a competing show pulling out of the parking lot.

3. A committee member has been playing one of your games for the last hour and hasn't won anything.

4. Its been a long tear down after a really successful spot. Most of your loads have left the lot and as you step in your office you get a phone call on your cell from the lead driver....its then that you notice that stack of free ride passes sitting on the shelf with the note "local highway patrol/DOT" attached.

5. A lady comes to the office to beef about her "pass" not being accepted at an attraction. The lady then goes on to explain that the Sheriff told her the pass was good for anything when he sold it to her.

6. After a long jump over a big mountain you notice that only 2 loads of your 3 load Giant Wheel arriving on the lot.

7. As the lights go out on half the midway your head electrician says, "Oh yeah, forgot to call the fuel truck today, will do first thing in the morning."

8. A booked in local sponsor/town business is giving away free bottled water, canned soda, and popcorn across from your floss wagon.

9. Just as set-up is about complete your Wacky Worm foreman comes up and states he left one section of track on the ground at the last spot.....1000 miles away.

10. You overhear your new ride guy asking the state inspectors, "Inspection sheet for what?"

11. It's midmorning of opening day and you are wondering where most of your ride crews are, then you receive a call from the local Bail bondsman stating you were listed as a contact.

12. Your Sky Diver crew has just finished setting up and cleaning the ride when your iPhone emergency alert goes off stating, "A twisting storm is approaching".
Pizzagod
Friday, May 24, 2019 10:28:55 AM
GREAT! I cut and pasted this to Facebook. So true!
For one dollar I'll guess your weight, your height, or your sex.
rodler
  •  rodler
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Friday, May 24, 2019 10:58:18 AM

And then there are people like me who after having a good time I start whining because there is no super loops or drop tower.
RodB
thunderbolt85
Friday, May 24, 2019 12:22:19 PM
Originally Posted by: rodler 

And then there are people like me who after having a good time I start whining because there is no super loops or drop tower.




well I guess we are all guilty of that, I confess I am about Divers, Sky Wheels, and good old Scramblers and more.

We want to revisit midways of our youth, but that's just not going to happen.
rodler
  •  rodler
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Friday, May 24, 2019 3:08:51 PM
Originally Posted by: thunderbolt85 

well I guess we are all guilty of that, I confess I am about Divers, Sky Wheels, and good old Scramblers and more.

We want to revisit midways of our youth, but that's just not going to happen.



That sure is the truth! Ha!
RodB
ridejocky
Friday, May 24, 2019 11:04:47 PM
Originally Posted by: thunderbolt85 

GOOD SIDE:

1. As you are leaving town after a long tear down you notice the 3 loads of your Super Himalaya lined up in the McDonalds drive thru...




I took the Flying Bobs center-load through (I think) a McDonald’s drive-thru. I had to stop trice to order and stop twice to pick-up, had a guy riding in the dog-house....


Ride the Zipper?
thunderbolt85
Tuesday, May 28, 2019 6:36:15 AM
Originally Posted by: ridejocky 

I took the Flying Bobs center-load through (I think) a McDonald’s drive-thru. I had to stop trice to order and stop twice to pick-up, had a guy riding in the dog-house....




LOL, had to have been a sight.
JW
  •  JW
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Wednesday, May 29, 2019 9:29:42 PM
All good ones.

8. A booked in local sponsor/town business is giving away free bottled water, canned soda, and popcorn across from your floss wagon. ....

I've actually seen this happen.

A number of years ago, show booked three kiddie rides (a Carousel, Hampton and Sky Fighter) and a popper for a one-day event in a downtown business/shopping district for a holiday celebration. The event was being held the day after Thanksgiving to coincide with the same day as the city's annual Christmas parade. The rides were rented to the local Merchant's Association on a flat-fee basis, with I think 50 cents per ride charged by the Merchant's Association to recover some of the cost. Sure enough, the Merchant's Association decided to distribute complimentary popcorn right next to the show-owned popper. One can only hope the floss sales were strong enough to offset the loss of popcorn sales. In retrospect, considering that the crowds were coming to the little carnival after the parade, there were likely vendors working the crowds at the parade selling floss, so sales were probably down on that as well.
the event was held in front of the stores of a shopping plaza on a busy downtown street. The show wasn't permitted to close the street until the night before the event, so the show had to come in Thanksgiving night to set-up. I remember talking to the show owner and he said having to set-up on Thanksgiving night didn't bother him as much as the fact that the Merchants' Association was distributing popcorn in such close proximity to his popper. He took it in stride however, stating there wasn't much he could do about it since it was a flat-fee rental.

The reason I recall this so well is because I wrote an article about the show and this event for AB. In the article I stated something to the effect that, "The event was sponsored by the Local Merchant's Association as part of a Black Friday promotion to kick-off the Christmas shopping season". Somehow, in the editing process, whoever edited the article at AB left the copy of the article as submitted, but changed the above sentence to... "The event was held as a celebration for the local black community". I remember telling Tim O'Brien, Managing Editor of AB at the time, and he found it humorous that the way it was edited it was taken completely out of context. (Maybe in Nashville they've never heard of "Black Friday", or perhaps the term was too politically incorrect) LOL.



This one doesn't really fall under any of the "Bad Side" scenarios. Maybe it should be listed under humorous or unbelievable stories from the show trail (I wouldn't believe it myself, if I didn't witness it with my own eyes)...

This happened in Delaware, sometime I believe, in the mid-80's. And, it was the first season a few out-of-state shows picked up some new spots after a long-time Delaware-based show owner decided to retire and sell off his equipment (he was owner of a "forty miler" operation who had most of the Catholic Church carnivals in Northern Delaware tied-up for years).

A Pennsylvania-based show was setting up the show in the parking lot of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church/School for a carnival. There were two 4'X8' wooden signs on posts in a grassy area on a corner of the property advertising the Carnival. The show was in the process of setting up some of the rides on a Sunday afternoon for a Monday opening. One of the rides was a Cobra. The fence was put around the perimeter of the Cobra and the ride was mostly set-up. A couple of other rides were spotted and blocked and in the process of being set-up. One was a wheel and I don't remember what the other major ride was. There were milk crates of blocks strewn about the grounds and some wire was in the process of being stretched-out. Only problem was.... This was not the location they were supposed to be playing! Yes, the signs were advertising the St. Elizabeth Parish Carnival - which was being held one or two weeks later. The location this show was supposed to be setting up at was St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, approximately ten miles south of this location.

I was driving by the lot where the show was setting up and saw the show being set-up, realizing it was a bit early to be setting-up for that carnival and knowing the location they were they were supposed to be setting-up. When I was there, the weird thing was, there wasn't a soul around anywhere. It was almost like everyone dropped everything they were doing and all went to lunch. I waited around for about an hour. Still, no one showed up. I don't know if they went to double-back for the rest of the equipment or if someone brought their error to their attention and they went to take the rest of the equipment to the actual location they were supposed to be playing. In the end, the show did make it to the correct location and managed to get set-up and open on time (All's well that ends well. However, I can't help think how embarrassing it must have been. not to mention wasted time).

The thing that puzzles me to this day is how the show ended up at the wrong lot to begin with. Of course this was back in the day before Smart phones, internet or GPS. The only thing I can think of is maybe they got off of an exit of a major highway and stopped at a gas station or somewhere and asked someone if they knew where "St. Elizabeth Ann Seton" church was and maybe someone told them something like,"Oh yeah, I know where St. Elizabeth is" and unintentionally misdirected them to the wrong location (?).







"Don't forget to be half fair and give a little credit to the small concessionaire"
thunderbolt85
Thursday, May 30, 2019 6:56:58 AM
Thanks JW, those were great add on stories. I remember when I had my Funnel Cake we went to a festival and the show gave me a great spot right up front. Trouble was that the committee had booked two other funnel cakes and an elephant ear on the independent lot right in front of us. I mean I know there will most likely duplicates sometimes, maybe even three of one item, but four items at this smaller festival was just too much, didn't make anything that week.

Again thanks for the stories.