By MARILEE GRIFFIN: St.Augstine Record
John Wright ran away with the carnival when he was 17, nudged there after he got into trouble with the law.
Daffiney Chapman, left, sits with her daughter Daisy Chapman, 17, middle, and her friend Kayla Diloreta, 15, at the Crossbow Shoot booth during the St. Johns County Fair Saturday afternoon, November 15, 2008. By DARON DEAN, daron.dean@staugustine.com
Now 38, he says he’s cleaned up his life, gushes with pride over his 12-year-old identical twin girls and runs the balloon-popping game at the St. Johns County Fair, now going on in the county fairgrounds in Elkton. And, not surprising for someone who is on the road almost all year long, he’s single.
“It’s hard to be married and be out here,” he said. That’s why his daughters are growing up in North Dakota, where they live with their mother.
“Out here” is the carnival circuit, which is yearlong and countrywide. It’s living in motels and trailers and working long days in all kinds of weather. It’s calling the nomads and wanderers in the next booth “family.” It’s a place where it’s hard to earn a consistent income.
But for Wright and many of his fellow carnies, “out here” is the only life many of them know.
“Once this gets in your blood, everything else is temporary,” said John Wingo of Boca Raton. “Is it wanderlust? I don’t know what else to call it. It beats the monotony of the 9-to-5.”
John Wingo tries to draw in fairgoers to the Rabbit or Iguana Toss booth as Molly Anna Parsons, 7, gives it a try during the St. Johns County Fair Saturday afternoon, November 15, 2008. By DARON DEAN, daron.dean@staugustine.com
