Carnival & Fair News

The 2026 fair season may have its own unique set of challenges, but as his first year as official General Manager Ricky Reithoffer reenacted an incident that happened when he was six years old. In fact, it's one of Reithoffer's earliest midway memories. His father, Rick Reithoffer – an industry veteran and now president of Reithoffer Shows – a family carnival company and midway provider that dates back seven generations – took his young son on a ride.

“It may have been a roller coaster, probably some ride I was too young or small for,” said Reithoffer. “I remember sitting between my father's legs and arms. I remember feeling very safe but very excited, like I was in a magic world.”

This spring, Reithoffer gave his six-year-old son – Orion – his first midway ride – and that father-son moment from decades ago came to mind. But as he reveled in nostalgia, Reithoffer realized something new – he was seeing today's rides through the eyes of a parent. “It helped me see things from the point of view of parents. You want to make sure everything is clean from every angle. As a manager I'm always looking at things through a big picture lens, but riding with my son I was able to see things that maybe we miss from being too inside.”

Fun is Why

The moment also caused him to ponder the deeper significance of his career choice and family's legacy. The fact that due to contractual responsibilities and the dozens of daily decisions midway managers must make, one can miss out on the midway's reason for being – Fun!

“The experience with my son made it all real and gave me a new appreciation for what I do, which is having fun,” said Reithoffer. “One of the cool things about my family is that we are selling that fun of making memories. I get the same feeling of connection when I talk to parents and they're seeing their kids have the fun of riding rides, going on the carousel for the first time.”

The message seems to be that in order to sell fun, you have to have fun. This year, fun at the management level at Reithoffer Shows was hard to come by. The company's pater familias – company president Rick Reithoffer – underwent a serious health scare that included surgery. Then, after recuperating went on a much-needed vacation in the Mediterranean through Independence Day.


Essentially, during the first half of the year, including the entire spring season, Ricky and his brother Matthew, who heads the Blue Unit, along with their cousin, John Stoorza, the office manager, took over day-to-day operations. The gradual transition of leadership that is common in many family businesses became significantly accelerated.

“Dad is still my sounding board,” said Ricky. “That hasn't changed and we have a really good relationship. I may be running the shows more and have more responsibilities. But I still have questions to ask him. We are in a unique business. It can age you but it also keeps your mind young. We take pride in being very good problem-solvers and very resourceful.”

The two Reithoffer units run symbiotically. “Every day there's a new challenge and we take pride in that find the solution, we keep our equipment in tip-top shape, you can't always rely on the getting parts for some equipment, sometimes we make some of our own or source them from other suppliers.”

Reithoffer Shows has approximately 130 rides and 250 employees (which can grow to 270 at some points during the year. In the midway business, necessity is the mother of invention, thus becoming a jack-of-all-trades is commonplace about carnival company professionals. However, one skill generally dominates and for Ricky Reithoffer, he's a layout guy.

Lay Out Man

“I'm a layout man, which I learned from my grandfather, but everybody does it a little bit different,” he said. It's one reason during Orion's first midway ride enabled Ricky to see the midway with new eyes. “You want to see things from the child's view, and the parents' view. I noticed many details that we could clean up or do better, at that event and the rest of the year.”

Ricky's theory on obtaining the optimum midway layout is first “getting the corner marks, then we have a string of rides in the midway so you to look down the midway and all the rides are lined up.”

Each fairground has its own quirks, topography and infrastructure and other individual realities that a midway layout must take into account, but generally speaking, “the lower rides are on the outer areas and then go to the taller rides. The high and lower rides space out the skyline.”

The main objective is to make the midway welcoming as well as enticing, ensuring those in search of fun will find it here. At most events, the centerpiece is the ride that immediately evokes the nostalgic excitement of the fair experience: the Merry-Go-Round, the most classic ride in any carnival's inventory. "You want to make the midway inviting. If I can, I put our Carousel front and center. It's been a classic, bread-and-butter ride for Reithoffer for 130 years."

When we are playing fairs, we're coming in with a good mix of rides, but it starts with mom pushing the baby stroller going to the child's first fair. We're building memories. The Carousel builds those memories. It's important to make sure it's not blocking off, the midway and that you can see the horses from far away. You want to be inviting, they want to see the rides.”

According to family lore via the Reithoffer Shows website – Julius Reithoffer, a German émigré ran a general store and went into the carnival business in 1896 when he purchased a steam driven carousel. Eventually, he added a Ferris Wheel, sold the store and went on the road, and a family midway dynasty was born.

Anchor Ride

The usual anchor to the midway – generally the opposite side of the Carousel – is the second ride Julius Reithoffer obtained, the Ferris Wheel. “You want an anchor-type like a Ferris Wheel and our Super Himalaya, which are our number one rides. They look best down the stretch. You want to show off your anchor wheel for the best visibility. Especially in mall parking lots, it's going to go perpendicular to the highway. Even at fairs, you want it visible from the main road and be able to be seen from as many places at the fairground as possible. The Ferris Wheel just screams fair, when people see it from a distance they know exactly what they're dealing with. ”

Other rides such as the super-spectacular rides, like the 140-foot Booster “It's a monster ride and has been really well received by customers,” – as well as the Kolmax Joker, Wave Swinger, Arctic Blast and a Bobs – are also strategically placed. “You want to maintain a flow of people through the midway. For big fairs it's the high capacity rides that are wanted. We call them the Line Eaters, because you want people moving along so they keep having fun. The layout adds the customer experience.”



Rides are the midway stars and main attractions and one key aspect of midway layout is ensuring other components enhance and not distract from their appeal. Reithoffer strategically places fences to maintain orderly “queue lines” – “lines form, but you want to leave space for the people to walk. You want to keep the lines tight and the walkways uncongested. I always think of that mom pushing a stroller.”

The queue fences enable smoother midway crowd control, but Ricky Reithoffer has become fanatical about aesthetic-enhancing Hideaway Fences. Generators, breaker and stock boxes, bunkhouses and other unglamorous necessities of midway operations are often unsightly distractions that undermine any positive vibe midway providers work so hard to create and sustain throughout the event.

“Aesthetically, our Hideaway Fences have made a huge difference. We had them custom made, with our colors and branding, so it extends our branding and adds to the atmosphere. I recommend them highly.”

The other layout look he's become near fanatical about has been the proliferation of Light Towers. “Any dark corner we light it up. People will walk around the light tower and that helps the flow around the midway.”

In addition, “We do a lot of help ground improvement if the grounds don't have those trenches. We dig our own trenches for wires and cables, it looks better when they're underground. It reduces trips and falls. Fair managers love it, because by digging the trenches usually it shows we have skin in the game.”