Carny enjoys life ‘in a fishbowl’ - Carny enjoys life ‘in a fishbowl’: Local

BLACKFOOT — Gena Tuttle has carnival in her blood.

    Her great-grandparents, grandparents and parents all worked for circuses and carnivals, and Tuttle was born into the work and lifestyle — and she’s proud of her heritage.

    “It’s pretty awesome,” she said, adding that her genealogy is full of aerial acrobats and lion tamers who performed on the road and in Hollywood. In fact, her great-grandfather Bob Mathews trained one of the lions MGM Studios used in its films, and her grandfather, Sport Mathews, used to work as a stuntman in “Tarzan” movies.

    Tuttle’s job isn’t quite as dangerous as her ancestors’, but it can be just as unpredictable, she said. She is the office manager for Butler Amusements, which organizes the carnival at the Eastern Idaho State Fair each year, and numerous other fairs throughout the West.

    She handles ticket sales, accounting records and payroll for between 80 and 200 employees, depending on the size of the fair. Butler Amusements is overseeing 33 rides, four concession booths and 30 game booths at the Eastern Idaho State Fair this year, she said.

    Tuttle’s position requires her to work long hours and she is constantly on the move, but she said that makes the job appealing.

    “It’s the excitement of what could happen. Unlike normal jobs you go to, you don’t know what to expect,” she said. “It’s always been about the unknown — that’s a lot of fun for me.”

    Tuttle said a lot of people don’t understand the lifestyle; in fact, fairgoers used to ask her when she was growing up if she had been kidnapped or if she had run away to join the carnival. But to her, life on the road feels normal.

    She tried to settle down once and spent a year working for the Arizona Department of Corrections, but the job didn’t take.

    “I had good state benefits, but I was stuck in one place,” she said. “I was raised out here and I am used to traveling so I turned in my badge.”

    Tuttle said she loves the excitement of her work and the camaraderie carnival workers share. Even though most of her own family has now retired from the business, Tuttle said the other workers have become like family.

    “We live in a fishbowl out here. It’s a little town that travels through other towns so everybody knows each others business whether you like it or not,” she said. “Everybody out here has a story and past — mine is just mostly about carnival.”

via www.idahostatejournal.com