Carnivals

As a teenager, summertime meant firemen’s carnivals. Almost every town had a volunteer fire department and one of their main fund raisers was a carnival. Starting after Memorial Day and ending around Labor Day there were few weeks a carnival was unavailable for an evening’s entertainment. There were professional “carnies” with their rides, fun houses, and games of chance as well as local clubs sponsoring food stands, bingo, raffles and other such activities. Most nights there would be live entertainment where you could dance, sing or just enjoy the company of neighbors and friends. Sometimes there were fireworks; especially if the fair traditionally fell on the week containing the Fourth of July.

The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college I was working a concession stand at a lake. There was a boy a few years old than me who kept trying to get a date with me. He had a well-earned bad reputation, and I had no interest in dating him. One evening after work, I went to the local carnival and there he was, standing next to me at a game where you tried to pop balloons with darts. My skill with darts was nil, but his was excellent. He proceeded to win a stuffed animal and asked me which one I wanted. I ended up not only dating him, but marrying him, too.

The summer carnivals were filled with similar stories. They were a great place to take a date. Families would go with their children, friends would meet there to stroll around and play games, and seniors would bring their lawn chairs to enjoy the music and have a bite to eat at one of the many food stands sponsored by the churches. These carnivals are still alive and well. They are so well attended neighboring fields are mowed to provide parking spaces.

When I moved to Nebraska, I found similar entertainment provided by the town festivals. There is Superior’s Lady Vestey Festival, Red Cloud’s Streetcar Days, Edgar Days, Chesterfest, and on and on. Beatrice has Homestead Days at Homestead National Historical Park. There they have educational booths showing spinning, lace making, wood carving, leather stamping as well as a team of horses pulling a sickle bar mower and many other everyday tasks from days gone-by.

Soon there will be 4-H fairs, county fairs and rodeos. Backyard bar-b-ques, swimming, camping ­– sometimes it is hard to find time to actually go to work.