The first thing to know about carnival workers, like those from Midwest Rides and Expositions who entertained here during the fair last week, is the proper term for their profession.
“A carnie runs games, a showman runs rides,” said Dean Camden, an 11-year veteran with Midwest Rides and Expositions.
Deanna Keller, 23, of Faribault, said some carnival workers she has worked with previously took offense to the term carnie. They preferred the term festival worker and would refer to their events as festivals so as to avoid the word carnival all together. That is not the case with the folks from Midwest Rides and Expositions.
“We’re carnies,” she said.
Camden, 52, of Big Spring, Texas, explained that for the first seven years with the carnival, a ride operator is considered a ride jock. Then, after that seven-year period, they become a showman like Camden. The difference is the knowledge and experience of the ride operator.
Keller said men usually operate the rides (unless they prefer to run one of the games), women operate the games and the younger employees usually work the food stands. Ride jocks and showmen are salaried employees and the carnies are paid a commission. That’s why it takes a smooth talker to be a successful carnie.
“It’s pretty easy stuff,” Keller said. “You just have to know how to talk to people to get them to come play your game.”
Keller, who joined the staff three weeks ago in Crystal, with her boyfriend Jerry Bignell, said she did it to meet new people and travel.
“We haven’t left Minnesota yet,” she said, “but in a few weeks we’ll be going to Louisiana.”
Camden, a retired firefighter from northern California, heads back to Texas when the Minnesota tour is over. His career as a showman is strictly a May to September gig. He does it to make people happy.
“The best part of the job is seeing a kid laugh and smile,” he said.
While bringing joy is his main objective, he does have a few rules that he strictly enforces. He never lets pregnant women on the rides, no matter how much they want to ride, and he never takes tickets from handicapped children.
“We are polite to our customers,” he said, “and we’re thankful they’re here.”
For Keller the best part of the job is meeting new people. Not only does she constantly meet new people while she runs her game, but she also works with new people in every town.
“People just come up and ask if they can help,” she said.
If they need the help the locals are put to work, otherwise they’re told to come back at the end of the event to help with the takedown process. Whether they work during the whole event or only during takedown, they receive their pay after takedown.
On a typical day during a fair, the employees take their positions one hour before the rides and games are set to open, usually 4 p.m. on weekdays and shortly after noon on weekends. If people want to play the games before the set starting time they can, but the rides are off limits until then.
“Safety comes first,” Camden said. “These rides are inspected every day before we open.”
Closing time is usually around 11 p.m. or midnight, depending on the number of people at the fair. That process is repeated every day during the fair. When the fair ends, they pack up, take a day off while they travel to their next destination and start all over again.
For most people who work and travel with the carnival, it’s all fun and games, but for some it’s a search for something or someone to fill a void in their life.
“Some people – they’re lonely,” Camden said. “Some people are looking for someone special to their heart.”
That feeling of loneliness is more common, he said, among the people who haven’t been with the carnival for very long.
“Every ride jock has their nights where they’re lonely,” he said.
Sometimes those lonely souls find what they’re searching for a special someone to fill the void. Others join the carnival with their special someone like Keller and Bignell, or Camden and his, now ex-wife, Mary Baker, who works the ticket booth.
“It’s family oriented,” Camden said of the carnival. “We have families, married, dating, single.”
The single employees, he said, must sleep in their own bunks. Men have their bunks and women have theirs.
As for the tricks of the trade or any tips on how to win the games, Camden and Keller were tight-lipped. Keller did, however, offer these words of encouragement.
“A lot of people think all the games are rigged, but they’re not,” she said. “I thought that too when I was a kid.”
All it takes is a little skill and if you’re nice Keller might give you a prize even if you lose.
So remember: next time you’re at the fair and you walk past the carnies, ride jocks and showmen, a little kindness or a friendly hello could go a long way.