Breaking News: Powers Great American Midways at the Kiwanis
Greecetown Mall location abruptly were closed down by local authorities.
Seabreeze Amusement Park also closes on Memorial Day...the story
follows:
GREECE, NY — Organizers of the Greece Festival for Youth, held in the parking lot of The Mall at Greece Ridge, have decided not to reopen the carnival after bands of unruly young people forced police to shut down the event yesterday evening.
The event, sponsored by the Greece Kiwanis, was slated to run through Sunday.
Selke said the festival was shut down last night after more than 200 teens and people in their early 20s arrived at the carnival shortly after 7:30 p.m. and started disrupting the event.
He said on-site security and Greece Police did a good job controlling the crowd, but security forces were outnumbered and felt it would be safer to just close the event for the night.
“It’s a shame that these people came here not looking to enjoy themselves, but to create problems,” he said.
The festival, in its 20th year, raises funds for various Greece-area community youth programs and helps the Kiwanis provide special gifts for Greece youths undergoing cancer treatment.
A special day of free rides and a picnic planned Thursday for more than 400 special needs youths from all over Monroe County has also been canceled.
In a side note; Corky Powers owner of Great American gave an interview to Tom Powell, for Amusement Business magazine regarding the restrictions and problems of booking in New York State.
The interview is below:
The owner of Powers Great American Midways is about fed up with New York state labor laws and for that reason he is scaling back his operations in the Empire State.
Les (Corky) Powers, who owns the Burgaw, N.C.-based show with his wife Debbie, told officials of the New York State Department of Labor; why he has cut the number of dates his carnival plays in that state from 24 to seven.
"And I also said I'm going to try to get that down to four," Powers said from Appalachin, N.Y., where his show was set up at a firemen's carnival for the 27th straight year. "They informed me that I had to pay time and a half over 40 hours, even though the federal law says you don't have to. It says you can pay straight minimum wage over 40 hours. Also, I charge $5 a week for workers who live in our bunkhouses, or 71 cents a day, and they said I had to go back two years and pay it back. I've had to hire an attorney to fight that. This is my home state (the show used to be named Amusements of Rochester). It seems as though they're really going after county fairs up here. This is a tough state. Laws are becoming more stringent everywhere, but New York is the worst, by far".......................
Powers says other concerns include high fuel costs, insurance, and U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. For the latter, he has added a full time staff person in Bob Miller.
"He keeps up with the drug testing, maintenance on the vehicles, logbooks, etc. It seems that when we get pulled into a weigh station, they see carnival equipment and figure something has to be wrong. They always give us a thorough look."
To combat the fuel costs, Powers said he runs his smaller generators when he can and has cut back on the time they are running. "If a vehicle goes out for one trip a day, that's it, if we can get away with it. Last year we were paying $1.05 for off the road diesel fuel, and this year it's $1.50 to $1.65. The owner of Powers Great American Midways is about fed up with New York state labor laws and for that reason he is scaling back his operations in the Empire State.
Les (Corky) Powers, who owns the Burgaw, N.C.-based show with his wife Debbie, told officials of the New York State Department of Labor why he has cut the number of dates his carnival plays in that state from 24 to seven.
"And I also said I'm going to try to get that down to four," Powers said from Appalachin, N.Y., where his show was set up at a firemen's carnival for the 27th straight year. "They informed me that I had to pay time and a half over 40 hours, even though the federal law
says you don't have to. It says you can pay straight minimum wage over 40 hours. Also, I charge $5 a week for workers who live in our bunkhouses, or 71 cents a day, and they said I had to go back two years and pay it back. I've had to hire an attorney to fight that. This is my home state (the show used to be named Amusements of Rochester). It seems as though they're really going after county fairs up here. This is a tough state. Laws are becoming more stringent everywhere, but New York is the worst, by far."
In Pennsylvania, another state where Powers has several dates, "they're heavy on health regulations," he says.
"For every food operation, there has to be a person who has completed a school course and been certified. My wife has three or four trailers and she's certified."
Powers says other concerns include high fuel costs, insurance, and U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. For the latter, he has added a full time staff person in Bob Miller.
"He keeps up with the drug testing, maintenance on the vehicles, logbooks, etc. It seems that when we get pulled into a weigh station, they see carnival equipment and figure something has to be wrong. They always give us a thorough look."
To combat the fuel costs, Powers said he runs his smaller generators when he can and has cut back on the time they are running. "If a vehicle goes out for one trip a day, that's it, if we can get away with it. Last year we were paying $1.05 for off the road diesel fuel, and this year it's $1.50 to $1.65.
"We haven't raised our prices yet. We're afraid of pricing ourselves out of the market. But we are contemplating raising the price of our advance tickets next year from $1.25 to $1.50. We sell strips at a cost of 87 cents each and the rides take two, three or four tickets.
"With insurance, there are really only two companies. We're with Allied Specialty. A lot of carnivals are scared they won't be renewed any more. A lot of carnivals will go out of business if fairs don't realize we have to pay lower percentages."
So far this season, Powers says weather has been bad, though not quite as bad as last year. "We're holding our own. I can't say we're not. But you can almost put a watch to it that it rains between 7 and 8 o'clock almost every night. But people are spending when we're open. That's the good part."
There is no question that the population of the city has grown faster than local officials expected and the urban nature of the city itself is now encroaching on it's city limits and spilling over into the suburbs.
"There is security here and we have extra patrols here, but we're still outnumbered by several hundred people," said Greece police Captain Patrick Phelan. "You would hope cooler heads would prevail, but unfortunately that didn't happen. There was a situation where there were numerous people involved in several altercations, and we were forced to clear the property."
In related new, Seabreeze, a local amusement park which has been in business for many decades made a decision to close their park on one of the busiest days of the year, also due to threats of violence.Seabreeze continues to say its decision to close the park on Memorial Day was a "business decision."
But police and groups like Pathways to Peace, say there were threats of violence by groups of teens, who said they were going to Seabreeze Monday with the intention of fighting.
Victor Saunders, of Pathways to Peace, says at first he didn't agree with the decision but later after hearing what could have happened told us: "it was the right call."
Seabreeze, the park will continue to hold its school day for students on Friday. That is a private event and isn't affected by what happened Monday. The park will re-open on Saturday June 5th.
“So we can't go to Seabreeze because someone else is being an idiot? Awesome.” That response from Bill Hicks who brought his two children to Seabreeze to enjoy one of his favorite past times as a boy.
He travelled more than 2,000 miles from Seattle, Washington to visit family and the park. “When I was a kid and we threatened to do something like that, we'd get a smack in the back of the head and go cut the grass. You know. Now kids are toting guns. It's just bad.” Hicks is referring to the reason news sources were told that Seabreeze was closed on Memorial Day -- possibly one of the park’s busiest days.
Rochester Police tell News 10NBC that rumors of a big fight at the park today prompted owners to close the gates at the Irondequoit landmark.
GREECE, NY — Organizers of the Greece Festival for Youth, held in the parking lot of The Mall at Greece Ridge, have decided not to reopen the carnival after bands of unruly young people forced police to shut down the event yesterday evening.
The event, sponsored by the Greece Kiwanis, was slated to run through Sunday.
Selke said the festival was shut down last night after more than 200 teens and people in their early 20s arrived at the carnival shortly after 7:30 p.m. and started disrupting the event.
He said on-site security and Greece Police did a good job controlling the crowd, but security forces were outnumbered and felt it would be safer to just close the event for the night.
“It’s a shame that these people came here not looking to enjoy themselves, but to create problems,” he said.
The festival, in its 20th year, raises funds for various Greece-area community youth programs and helps the Kiwanis provide special gifts for Greece youths undergoing cancer treatment.
A special day of free rides and a picnic planned Thursday for more than 400 special needs youths from all over Monroe County has also been canceled.
In a side note; Corky Powers owner of Great American gave an interview to Tom Powell, for Amusement Business magazine regarding the restrictions and problems of booking in New York State.
The interview is below:
The owner of Powers Great American Midways is about fed up with New York state labor laws and for that reason he is scaling back his operations in the Empire State.
Les (Corky) Powers, who owns the Burgaw, N.C.-based show with his wife Debbie, told officials of the New York State Department of Labor; why he has cut the number of dates his carnival plays in that state from 24 to seven.
"And I also said I'm going to try to get that down to four," Powers said from Appalachin, N.Y., where his show was set up at a firemen's carnival for the 27th straight year. "They informed me that I had to pay time and a half over 40 hours, even though the federal law says you don't have to. It says you can pay straight minimum wage over 40 hours. Also, I charge $5 a week for workers who live in our bunkhouses, or 71 cents a day, and they said I had to go back two years and pay it back. I've had to hire an attorney to fight that. This is my home state (the show used to be named Amusements of Rochester). It seems as though they're really going after county fairs up here. This is a tough state. Laws are becoming more stringent everywhere, but New York is the worst, by far".......................
Powers says other concerns include high fuel costs, insurance, and U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. For the latter, he has added a full time staff person in Bob Miller.
"He keeps up with the drug testing, maintenance on the vehicles, logbooks, etc. It seems that when we get pulled into a weigh station, they see carnival equipment and figure something has to be wrong. They always give us a thorough look."
To combat the fuel costs, Powers said he runs his smaller generators when he can and has cut back on the time they are running. "If a vehicle goes out for one trip a day, that's it, if we can get away with it. Last year we were paying $1.05 for off the road diesel fuel, and this year it's $1.50 to $1.65. The owner of Powers Great American Midways is about fed up with New York state labor laws and for that reason he is scaling back his operations in the Empire State.
Les (Corky) Powers, who owns the Burgaw, N.C.-based show with his wife Debbie, told officials of the New York State Department of Labor why he has cut the number of dates his carnival plays in that state from 24 to seven.
"And I also said I'm going to try to get that down to four," Powers said from Appalachin, N.Y., where his show was set up at a firemen's carnival for the 27th straight year. "They informed me that I had to pay time and a half over 40 hours, even though the federal law
says you don't have to. It says you can pay straight minimum wage over 40 hours. Also, I charge $5 a week for workers who live in our bunkhouses, or 71 cents a day, and they said I had to go back two years and pay it back. I've had to hire an attorney to fight that. This is my home state (the show used to be named Amusements of Rochester). It seems as though they're really going after county fairs up here. This is a tough state. Laws are becoming more stringent everywhere, but New York is the worst, by far."
In Pennsylvania, another state where Powers has several dates, "they're heavy on health regulations," he says.
"For every food operation, there has to be a person who has completed a school course and been certified. My wife has three or four trailers and she's certified."
Powers says other concerns include high fuel costs, insurance, and U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. For the latter, he has added a full time staff person in Bob Miller.
"He keeps up with the drug testing, maintenance on the vehicles, logbooks, etc. It seems that when we get pulled into a weigh station, they see carnival equipment and figure something has to be wrong. They always give us a thorough look."
To combat the fuel costs, Powers said he runs his smaller generators when he can and has cut back on the time they are running. "If a vehicle goes out for one trip a day, that's it, if we can get away with it. Last year we were paying $1.05 for off the road diesel fuel, and this year it's $1.50 to $1.65.
"We haven't raised our prices yet. We're afraid of pricing ourselves out of the market. But we are contemplating raising the price of our advance tickets next year from $1.25 to $1.50. We sell strips at a cost of 87 cents each and the rides take two, three or four tickets.
"With insurance, there are really only two companies. We're with Allied Specialty. A lot of carnivals are scared they won't be renewed any more. A lot of carnivals will go out of business if fairs don't realize we have to pay lower percentages."
So far this season, Powers says weather has been bad, though not quite as bad as last year. "We're holding our own. I can't say we're not. But you can almost put a watch to it that it rains between 7 and 8 o'clock almost every night. But people are spending when we're open. That's the good part."
There is no question that the population of the city has grown faster than local officials expected and the urban nature of the city itself is now encroaching on it's city limits and spilling over into the suburbs.
"There is security here and we have extra patrols here, but we're still outnumbered by several hundred people," said Greece police Captain Patrick Phelan. "You would hope cooler heads would prevail, but unfortunately that didn't happen. There was a situation where there were numerous people involved in several altercations, and we were forced to clear the property."
In related new, Seabreeze, a local amusement park which has been in business for many decades made a decision to close their park on one of the busiest days of the year, also due to threats of violence.Seabreeze continues to say its decision to close the park on Memorial Day was a "business decision."
But police and groups like Pathways to Peace, say there were threats of violence by groups of teens, who said they were going to Seabreeze Monday with the intention of fighting.
Victor Saunders, of Pathways to Peace, says at first he didn't agree with the decision but later after hearing what could have happened told us: "it was the right call."
Seabreeze, the park will continue to hold its school day for students on Friday. That is a private event and isn't affected by what happened Monday. The park will re-open on Saturday June 5th.
“So we can't go to Seabreeze because someone else is being an idiot? Awesome.” That response from Bill Hicks who brought his two children to Seabreeze to enjoy one of his favorite past times as a boy.
He travelled more than 2,000 miles from Seattle, Washington to visit family and the park. “When I was a kid and we threatened to do something like that, we'd get a smack in the back of the head and go cut the grass. You know. Now kids are toting guns. It's just bad.” Hicks is referring to the reason news sources were told that Seabreeze was closed on Memorial Day -- possibly one of the park’s busiest days.
Rochester Police tell News 10NBC that rumors of a big fight at the park today prompted owners to close the gates at the Irondequoit landmark.
Officers say some of the kids arrive on RTS buses, are unsupervised and use the park as a place to settle differences. The owners of Seabreeze did not want to take any chances.
