Going To A Cheesy Carnival On A Summer Night!
Going To A Cheesy Carnival On A Summer Night!
Derek Laganelli
As Summer is beginning to wind down, most of us have started to set our sights on Fall - which is rapidly approaching. I’d be lying if I said I’m not over here anxiously awaiting Halloween, playing old episodes of the Purple Stuff Podcast to get myself in the mood. BUT I have to admit, I usually rob myself of some of the greatest Summer experiences by committing to Autumn too early! Well this year I refuse, and I’m going to make myself get the most out of this humid-ass season before it’s gone.
The Traveling Carnival
Admittedly, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Summer. It’s just so HOT, there are so many bugs and I completely & utterly loathe the beach (apparently everyone’s idea of fun for three months). That being said, there are some great things that come around this season, one of those being Carnivals!
The other night I was driving, when all of a sudden the long strip of dark road was illuminated like the Vegas strip. Off in the distance to my left, glowing neon lights appeared - seemingly out of nowhere - and I was attracted to them like a moth to flame. I knew I had to get to that Carnival quick before it packed up and headed off to its next destination.
I’ll admit, as my age increases, there is a nagging voice inside of me that grows louder with each passing year:
“You don’t really want to go THERE, do you?”
“It’s so overpriced”
“It’s going to be a rip off”
“There are a thousand better ways to spend your money”
Yet, by some miracle, I’m able to beat that stupid old adult voice away and throw caution to the wind. As you can tell from the photos, this carnival was just about as textbook as they come. The lights were bright, the corn dogs were hot, and the people were smelly – just like in the movies. (Seriously though, how come at least half the people at a carnival smell like they’ve never even considered buying a stick of deodorant?)
While I didn’t end up going on any of the rides, because $6 a ride is a bit ridiculous in my opinion, I did get plenty of snacks and had a great time spectating. Hell, I even played a couple of games because, how are you going to pass up a carnival game and those terrible prizes? For the record, I played basketball and the water gun race game. I lost at both. Though I did get a consolation prize at basketball, and my sister took home the W at the water gun game.
We also ended up getting a few snacks because how are you not going to get carnival snacks? A cherry snow cone, probably the freshest cotton candy I’ve ever had, and some corn dogs because duh.
I was hoping that they would have had a crappy little haunted house dark ride, but unfortunately no dice there. Ultimately I was just happy to be taking in all the sights & sounds, and more importantly to be squeezing the last few drops out of Summer before it fades away again.
I know that for some of you, getting to the Carnival might not be an option, and that’s okay. There are still plenty of ways to get soak up that cheap neon goodness that don’t require leaving the house. Consider popping on The Lost Boys (a film that should ONLY be watched in the Summer, in my opinion) if you want to get lost in the beachy goodness of their 80s boardwalk scenes. How about reading through Stephen King’s Joyland? Possibly my favorite book of all time! It technically takes place at a theme park, but we’re splitting hairs here – there is no other book out there that I’ve found that captures that Summery Carnival spirit quite the way that Joyland does. I should also mention that if you have ADD like me and find yourself struggling to read books, the audio version of this one is excellent!
Basically, we’ve got about another month left to squeeze in these fun little nights before everything really switches over to Halloween. Try to get out there and soak in all in when you can – I guarantee you’ll have a blast!
