Carnivals, Fairs & Festivals (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

How often do you go to fairs and carnivals?

I know people who have gone their state and/or county fair every year since they were 4 years old.

That was something I never did growing up so as an adult I hadn't been more than a couple times.

I've gone more the past few years and have even travelled and made a long weekend getaway out it of a couple of times and that is 100% due to watching Carnival Eats on the cooking channel

I have had some really cool things to eat but as far as the games, rides and attractions go I found there is a sameness to them

I've enjoyed the ones I've been to but some people LOVE fair season

I can take them or leave them.

 

[superchuck500]

Depends on where you are. I have now lived in SE La, the Nashville area, Washington DC and Northern Virginia, and the Charleston, SC area. The festivals in Louisiana are vastly superior than anything I ever went to anywhere else. The main reason is the food - Louisiana festival food can be some of the best food you ever eat. Most everywhere else, it's the same crap. Louisiana festivals also tend to have excellent music lineups (even if you don't know the act, they're probably pretty decent) and a very permissive attitude about drinking. I remember I went to the G Street Festival in DC one year, and you could get a wristband and drink beer in this one little roped off corral. It was sad . . . as if the fabric of society would come unraveled if the person holding the beer were to cross the rope into the general public.

My enthusiasm for festivals outside of SE La. is pretty tepid. It can be fun, but only if you have nothing else to do. Whereas most festivals in SE La. are guaranteed good times.

 

[TheMike62987]

I don't go to many cause I tend to sweat a lot, but when I do go I always have a great time.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I've always heard that the rides at the smaller fairs can be deathtraps
==================================

Four years after a carnival ride’s corroded steel arm snapped and flung a high school student to his death at the Ohio State Fair, the state is tightening its oversight of amusement rides.

Inspectors are conducting more mandatory checks for rust and metal fatigue and increasingly flagging rides for repairs during the first year of enforcement under the new regulations.

Some carnival operators say inspectors are overreaching and shutting rides over issues that aren’t immediate safety concerns. A few have pulled out of Ohio’s festival circuit or are considering it because of what they say is uncertainty over how the rules are being enforced.

The 2017 accident at Ohio’s showcase fair that killed Tyler Jarrell, an 18-year-old Marine enlistee, and left four others with life-changing injuries sent shudders through the amusement industry.

The maker of the spinning, swinging Fire Ball ride said years of undetected excessive internal corrosion caused a carriage holding four riders to break apart just hours after a final inspection.

Attorneys for the victims believe the state’s inspectors missed obvious warning signs and also blamed the ride’s operator and maker, though no one was charged.
Ohio, like many other states, gives its ride inspectors immunity from negligence lawsuits. But settlements were reached with the ride’s owner and two private inspection companies while another lawsuit against the manufacturer is still in court.

While the state has long had one of the nation’s more robust ride inspection programs — nine states don’t require any government scrutiny — Ohio lawmakers spent more than a year crafting a plan to increase oversight. Called “Tyler’s Law,” it requires more mandatory inspections for big attractions and makes owners maintain repair and travel records............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/after-horrific-fair-ride-accident-ohio-beefs-up-inspections/2021/07/20/84e45cea-e96e-11eb-a2ba-3be31d349258_story.html

 

[Optimus Prime]

I'll be going to a food & wine festival next month

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

i think a distinction has to be made between travelling carnival type things and themes festivals
the carny stuff can only be enjoyed for its kitsch - but it most certainly can be enjoyed for that

Depends on where you are. I have now lived in SE La, the Nashville area, Washington DC and Northern Virginia, and the Charleston, SC area. The festivals in Louisiana are vastly superior than anything I ever went to anywhere else. The main reason is the food - Louisiana festival food can be some of the best food you ever eat. Most everywhere else, it's the same crap. Louisiana festivals also tend to have excellent music lineups (even if you don't know the act, they're probably pretty decent) and a very permissive attitude about drinking. I remember I went to the G Street Festival in DC one year, and you could get a wristband and drink beer in this one little roped off corral. It was sad . . . as if the fabric of society would come unraveled if the person holding the beer were to cross the rope into the general public.

My enthusiasm for festivals outside of SE La. is pretty tepid. It can be fun, but only if you have nothing else to do. Whereas most festivals in SE La. are guaranteed good times.

i was VERY disappointed by the strawberry fest the last time i went - didn't really have a SeLa feel at all
but NOLA fests are awesome (but too often victims of their own success)
i did like almost all of the (whichever nationality) fests in NYC

 

[kizzy821]

I went to the Texas State Fair in 2006 when I first moved here. I only needed to go once.

When I was young, I lived for the Super Fair, but I heard about some ride catching fire and the riders had to go round and round THROUGH the fireball until it stopped. That's happened several times over the years.

I wouldn't get on anything that didn't allow me to easily jump off after that. So pretty much bumper cars and the carousel are my only ride options. Or one of those trains that weave slowly through the fair.

I could throw myself off one of those in case of a fire and/or a screaming kid.

 

[Grumpy Old Manatee]

I only go to Renaissance Festivals, but dressed as a futuristic space monster.

(Might go see Elvis Costello at Jazz Fest this year, but waiting to buy tickets until I know it will definitely happen)

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

 

[Eeyore]

No thanks. Too many people

 

[where yat brah]

Does the AVN film festival count?

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Does the AVN film festival count?

Do they clean the rides after every use?