Carny Town - Traveling Carnivals, Fairs and Festivals

Sunny weather Sunday draws large crowd to St. Lucie County Fair » TCPalm.com

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Although Saturday’s rain and cold knocked the St. Lucie County Fair’s opening weekend attendance down to 50 percent of what it should have been, Sunday’s sparkling bright sunny weather brought fairgoers out by the thousands.

“Even with the good weather Sunday, our attendance for the opening weekend is way down, but, we’re looking forward to it picking up during the week because of our discounts,” said Fair Manager Jeanne Keaton. “Attendance for the Charlie Daniels concert Saturday night was terrific, and the concert was just awesome.”

As families streamed across the parking lots on Sunday and in through the fair gates, Joseph Jones, in his first year on the fair’s board of directors and a volunteer for many years, said he was expecting a busy day.

Inside on the midway, the Ferris wheel whirled, the barkers were barking, kids were screaming their way through slides and rides, and parents were, perhaps, remembering what it was like to be 10 years old and spending a day at the fair.

Nelson Southwick III, an 8-year-old who attends Liberty Baptist Academy, intently watched Jack Nutbrown make him a top on a mini-lathe. Nutbrown was with the Treasure Coast Woodturners Guild group in the craft barn.

“I saw this last year and I wanted to see it again,” Nelson said as his mother, Sabrina Crouch, and his cousin, Mason Harless, watched. “I want to learn to do this because it’s cool.”

Kathleen Powell, from Fort Pierce sat spinning wool in the front of the craft barn.

“It seems like this draws a crowd every time,” she said. “I also do this at the Saturday craft show in Fort Pierce, and everyone wants to know how you do it. They’ve seen spinning wheels, but not someone actually spinning.”

She expected to complete one mile of yarn in two days’ time.

Amy Ward from Port St. Lucie was walking around with her daughter, Shannon, 15, looking at the photography and art exhibit.

“We’ve been here for five hours and we’re enjoying it,” Amy Ward said. “We came mostly because my son, Shawn, wanted to go on rides.”

She said she liked the Budweiser Clydesdale horses pulling the old-fashioned Bud delivery wagon.

In the small animal barn, youngsters exhibited everything from a six-month-old pig to a long-haired guinea pig. His owner explained that he had to be combed frequently.

The fair offers “a safe good time for families and we hope that everyone comes out this week and next weekend,” Joseph Jones said. “I hope people will check out all the exhibits we have, enjoy the food and the music, visit the crafts and the animals and have a good time.”

via www.tcpalm.com

Alan Jackson concert tickets on sale Monday - News10Now.com

WATERTOWN, N.Y. --- Country music superstar, Alan Jackson is coming back to the North Country this summer, and tickets go on sale Monday for the concert.

Jackson will be performing July 16 at the Watertown fairgrounds, during the Jefferson County Fair. He's performing at the annual Disabled Persons Action Organization's summer concert series. It's expected to be the most expensive and labor intensive show the DPAO has ever put on.

Tickets go on sale Monday at 7a.m. They're $68 for reserved tickets and $52 for general admission.

via news10now.com

Lawmaker hatches plan to save the Michigan State Fair - Daily Tribune: Breaking news coverage for southeastern Oakland County, Michigan

People are talking this week about breathing life back into the defunct Michigan State Fair.

The Huron-Clinton Metropark Authority is considering turning the fairgrounds into a Metropark.

State Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, whose district includes the Oakland County communities of Milford Village and Milford Township, introduced legislation Wednesday allowing the state to lease the state fair to any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other public or private entity through an open bid process.

"We can't give up on our state fair just yet, not with its storied history and the memories it has created for so many Michigan families," said Rogers.

"The state had its chance to run the fair for the last 150 years; I think it's time we give someone else a shot. The bill would allow the best fair organizers in

Michigan to compete to manage the granddaddy of them all."

The measure would also eliminate the state fairgrounds authority and board, freeing the fair to take place anywhere in Michigan.

Because of state budget deficits, the state decided last year to not provide any funding for the fair.

Last year, the state funded a State Fair shortfall of $350,000 to balance the budget.

"The budget was dropped for our state fair," said Rogers.

If an individual or organization took it over, "it would be a cost to the state."

Rogers said a constituent called with an idea for relocating the fair to the Fowlerville area, and that is what prompted his legislation.

"I'm hearing other locales are interested," he said.

Rogers said if the Metroparks Authority, based in Brighton, could take over the fair and the property, "I would welcome it."

A person on the Metroparks board who asked not to be named said the board held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the state fair.

The board voted 5-2 to create a Metropark at the state fair property, located at Woodward Avenue and Eight Mile in Detroit, and also set aside two weeks for a state fair.

The board wants a $1 a year lease with the state and proposes creating a full Metropark there similar to others in the state.

State Rep. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, responded to the Metroparks idea in a statement on his Web site.

"I will not support an increase in property taxes for a Metropark at the Fairgrounds, and I do not think our suburban neighbors will support an increase in taxes, either. Also, the state of Michigan cannot be put into a position to pay for any failures or missed deadlines by the Metroparks.

"I was strongly opposed to this governor closing the Fairgrounds. It was a slap in the face to Detroit and saves the state mere pennies a year. It is irresponsible to announce another project in Detroit without Detroiters determining its fate and having a solid short- and long-term plan."

The Metroparks board will work with the state on the proposal over the next 60 days, officials said.

via www.dailytribune.com

Charlie Daniels fires up the crowd at the SLC fair with his fiddle » TCPalm.com

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Who cares if it’s cold and damp or the county fair’s metal bleacher seats feel like a sheet of ice? Not 2,000-plus Charlie Daniels fans, that’s for sure.

The country music legend fired up fans and kept the place sizzling with high-speed fiddling at his St. Lucie County Fair concert Saturday night.

“We came out here tonight especially to see him,” said Donna Sarakinis of Port St. Lucie, wearing a leather jacket, boots and a cowboy hat studded with pins from trips out west. “We came in spite of the cold.”

A seemingly endless stream of fans filed into Adams Arena in anticipation of Daniels’ fiery fiddling, climbing up bleachers that rose nearly to the ceiling on three sides. Down in front, a select few who bought reserved seats sat at the foot of the county parks and recreation department’s portable stage.

Famed for his 1979 hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Daniels suffered a mild stroke in January while snowmobiling. His concert Saturday at the St. Lucie County Fair is his first event since then.

Mark Atkins from Port St. Lucie had been planning for two weeks to bring his sister, Jalna Owen from McGraw, N.Y., to see Daniels. He knew her favorite song was “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

“But he has a lot of great songs and a lot of great albums,” Atkins said. “I want to hear a lot of his good old stuff, not the new stuff.”

Daniels obliged with crowd-pleasing selections that kept the audience happy.

Owen didn’t mind the cold seats — she had a raincoat to sit on. “I think it’ll be worth the cold,” she said shortly before the music started.

Bob Emrich of Fort Pierce said he was there because he enjoyed country music.

“I listened to another fellow earlier and he was good too. I just like country music a lot.”

Even the younger set has seen Daniels on television recently. He stars in a Geico insurance commercial where a man in a restaurant plays a fiddle at breakneck speed and then hands it back to the original player, telling him that’s how it’s done.

Getting Daniels was a coup for the county fair.

“We’ve been trying to book Charlie Daniels here for years,” said Fair Manager Jeanne Keaton. “But he always spent the holidays with his family and his break was always from December through February and of course our fair starts in February. I kept asking and asking, and finally he agreed to come.”

Daniels has been booked for the fair since September. Keaton said she wasn’t worried after she heard about the stroke.

“They contacted us right away and let us know the level of his stroke and that he was going to be OK. They told us he had no intentions of not making the show, and we are his first show since the stroke.”

Had he been unable to keep the date, Keaton said she is confident another celebrity would have been booked.

“The good artists will always provide someone,” she said. “And he’s a legend.”

via www.tcpalm.com

Florida Strawberry Festival is 'family friendly'

-PLANT CITY -- General Manager Paul Davis calls the Florida Strawberry Festival the most family friendly venue around.

The festival, which begins its 11-day run Thursday, will include plenty of entertainment, such as racing pigs and a lumberjack show, that's free for the price of gate admission. The festival also is introducing unlimited mechanical carnival rides for $25 on both Sundays during the event.

"The value we have here at the strawberry festival is phenomenal," Davis said.

Davis expects hundreds of thousands of visitors, assuming the weather cooperates. And he doesn't anticipate any shortage of strawberries -- which have been in short supply at times this season due to nasty winter weather.

"The growers I've talked to feel were going to have plenty of strawberries," he said.

That's important for a festival that celebrates the area's top crop and serves up mountains of shortcake each year.

Here are a few of the highlights of the festival:

Free acts for the price of admission that include that include entertainers Dennis Lee, Rick K & The Allnighters, Jay Taylor Band and bluegrass bands; check the festival schedule for times. Also, the festival has about 3,000 free grandstand seats available for each of its 22 headline acts, from Roy Clark to Lynyrd Skynyrd.

About 85 carnival rides, including new ones such as the Avalanche, a large roller coaster; the Inversion, which has seats connected to a large arm that makes a 360 degree loop and others. A new ride called the Space Roller is the only one of its kind in the United States, said Zack Panacek, general manager of Belle City Amusements, which runs the midway. The company is always offering new and improved rides because, "you have to give them something new to keep them coming back," Panacek said.

Free gate admission on March 10 for active, reserve and retired military veterans, law enforcement officers and other first responders. American Heroes Day is an expansion of the free admission offered last year to military veterans. Festival officials decided this year to include police, firefighters and other first responders to honor them for their roles in the "freedoms we enjoy every day," Davis said.

An improved ventilation system and indoor-outdoor carpeting in the Cool Whip Strawberry Tent, the venue for several free entertainment acts and a shortcake vendor. Also this year, there's a better ventilation system and new ground cover that should cut down on dust in the festival's livestock tent.

A new location for the Neighborhood Village, where arts and crafts are displayed. The exhibits have been moved from the expo hall to the rock-covered building that formerly housed the festival's administrative offices.

The festival offices moved to a 5,747-square-foot building at 303 Lemon St. The building was once the Plant City Church of God, which the festival purchased about 10 years ago and most recently used for storage. The festival decided not to tear down the building because of its historical significance, Davis said. The remodeling modified the former church to "fit our needs," he said. Visitors can now reach the festival offices without going through one of the festival gates because the building has an entrance off Lemon Street near Oak Street.

via www.californiachronicle.com

Chippewa.com

A new Renaissance Faire in Chippewa Falls will be kicking off Saturday, May 22.

The newly-named Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire will run five weekends May 22 through June 20.

Wisconsin Festival Grounds Inc. purchased the land in July in a sheriff’s sale after the property was foreclosed. A Renaissance fair had been held there for three summers from 2006-2008.

Now the new owners are bringing in new management and new performers to its festival.

John Mills will serve as the general manager. He has experience working with King Richard’s Fair of Boston and Chicago and other shows and festivals. With his theatrical background, the faire will be more performance-based than in the past.

“Music, comedy and street performers — that’s what breathes life into a Renaissance Faire,” Mills said in a press release. “And of course, the turkey legs.”

Music Director David Roe and “King” Michael Marzella have been hired to set the tone of the faire. Marzella is a full-time Renaissance king. He’s currently working in Largo, Fla.

“Our goal for this first year is to put together great entertainment — a festival with something for everyone,” Mills said. “We have jousting, jugglers, face painting, Renaissance games and rides, herding demonstrations, psychic readers.”

Shops will feature costumes, pottery, fiber arts, stained glass and leather goods. 

Ticket prices have not yet been released.

via www.chippewa.com

Reithoffer Shows, Inc. - Locations, Fairs, Events, Carnivals

Locations, Fairs, Events, and Carnivals

We look forward to seeing you at one of our events soon!

via www.reithoffershows.com

How Accidents Impact Area Theme Parks - Central Florida News 13

ORLANDO -- The death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau is just the latest tragedy at a Central Florida theme park.

Over the last year, there have been several deaths and an even greater number of serious injuries at area attractions.

A SeaWorld news conference was played live across the nation Friday, and in the last few days alone, more than 3,000 articles about Wednesday’s killer whale attack have been written.

SeaWorld is reevaluating their policies, but experts said soon everything will be back to normal.

"There is a short run and there is a long run,” said Dr. Abraham Pizam from the University of Central Florida. “Long run, I don't think that it will affect the perception of the park or the attendance at the park."

In the past 12 months, employees have been injured or killed at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at Disney's Hollywood Studios and the Dueling Dragons Rollercoaster at Islands of Adventure

The death of a Walt Disney World monorail pilot inspired the company to change their policies and brought intense scrutiny from regulators.

However, in the end, experts said tragic accidents like these are seen as simply accidents.

"Accidents happen, but if you figure the percentage of the accidents that occur out of the total number of shows, it’s safer than anything you can imagine, including riding in a car," Pizam said.

In fact, even with all the scrutiny and attention currently focused on SeaWorld, park officials said business is still the same.

via www.cfnews13.com

World Pro Wrestling at Ohio State Fair in August

Orlando, Florida based World Pro Wrestling will be part of the Ohio State Fair this year as they present some of the best indie talent in the country on August 1 with a 3:00 show.

Dan Severn v. Butterbean for the Mixed Martial Arts World Title

The Steiner Brothers v. Scott Hall and Heidenreich for the World Tag Team Titles

The Honkytonk Man v. Tommy Rich with a guitar on a pole for the World Title

La Parka v. Mysteria in a TLC match for the World Cruiserweight Title

The Nitro Girls are also scheduled to appear. You can learn more about this show by visiting World Pro Wrestling here or by going to the Ohio State Fair web page here.

As always I am Jerry Wiseman...and then the bell rings.

via www.examiner.com