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Corn-dog pizza? When it’s the Minnesota State Fair, why not?

Posted by CarnivalMidways.Com on June 11, 2010
Posted in: News. Tagged: .

Source: By Tad Vezner – Pioneer Press

There’s only one thing to say about the tasty amalgamation of corn dogs and pizza.

“It kind of makes sense; it brings two classics together,” said Dennis Larson, the Minnesota State Fair official who signs off on new food at the Fair.

And the corn-dog-topped pizza, which will debut at the 2010 State Fair this summer, meets both of Larson’s criteria.

“There’s an artery-clogging element … and the ‘how-do-they-do-that?’ appeal,” Larson said.

Or at least the “why-do-they-do-that?” appeal.

Bryan Enloe got the idea from a friend who owns two concession trailers: one for corn dogs and the other — you guessed it — for pizza.

The friend typed both terms into Google, looking for ideas for signage, and a picture of the hybrid came up on a blog titled “This is Why You’re Fat.” The blog has since been taken down, but the picture stayed with Enloe.

“The stick was still on it (the corn dog),” he said. “It was a really great idea. I do six to eight fairs a year. Minnesota by far, they go for the wildest stuff.”

Under the banner of the Pizza Shoppe, Enloe will put four half corn dogs — sliced lengthways — on top of a cheese pizza, eight slices to a pie, and serve them sans stick.

Topping the artery-clogging category comes another creation called “chicken fried bacon”: bacon battered, breaded, fried and served in a boat with gravy by Giggles’ Campfire Grill. Enough said.

But if you like Southwestern cuisine, Mark Haugen is finally making an effort to truly assimilate with the Fair. His restaurant, Tejas, in Edina, closed in December after 22 years, but he’s keeping the Fair stand open, as he and his partner have for a dozen years.

In all that time, though, they’ve never sold anything on a stick and haven’t deep-fried so much as a crust of bread.

This year, “We kind of want to get on the bandwagon with the deep-fried,” Haugen said. The solution: a lightly breaded and deep-fried avocado, served with ranch dip.

“It seems like a natural progression for us to do that,” he said.

Famous Dave’s Charlie Torgerson has fried pigs’ ears this year — sliced up to look like tiny curly french fries, with a chipotle glaze. Last year, he had peach-glazed pigs’ cheeks after becoming most famous for his chocolate-covered bacon.

“He’s done everything but the squeal,” Larson said. “He’s running out of organs.”

And in the potato arena, Tina and Matt Isaac have merged the spiral-cut potato on a stick with … chocolate.

“You put sugar on it instead of salt, you gotta whole different thing,” said Matt Isaac who can’t stop talking about potato chips. “I love potato chips. I think I grew up on those.”

His sister, Tina, on the other hand, loves chocolate. And so …

“A lot of it’s trial and error. You end up buying a lot of chocolate and finding out what happens to it. It’s not the worst thing in the world,” Tina Isaac said.

The pair found a chocolate coating that stays hard — even in the heat. You can also sprinkle extra sugar on top, if you’re in the mood.

Also new at the Fair — which runs from Aug. 26 to Labor Day, Sept. 6 — are Cincinnati chili (spaghetti topped with chili); mashed potatoes on a stick; deep-fried shortcake; and Caramel Apple Puppies (Fudge Puppies with baked-in apple, covered in caramel), among others.

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Games Galore inks contract with Murphy Brothers

Posted by CarnivalMidways.Com on June 9, 2010
Posted in: News. Tagged: , .

Source: Tracy Frank – INFORUM

Games Galore of Fargo has signed an extended contract with Oklahoma-based Murphy Brothers Carnival to provide inflatable games at carnivals throughout the United States.

This is a big opportunity for the Fargo company, which opened in 2006, said owner Dave Lerud.

“It’s a huge contract for Games Galore because it gives us the chance to work with thousands of people with Murphy Brothers Carnivals,” Lerud said.

Games Galore will have a presence at state fairs in Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Dakota, as well as at county fairs in Arkansas and Minnesota.

This is the second year Murphy Brothers Carnival and Games Galore will be at the Red River Valley Fair, which is July 9-17 in West Fargo.

Bryan Schulz, Red River Valley Fair general manager, said fairgoers reacted positively to having inflatable rides at the fair.

“There are kids who don’t enjoy going on the rides that go around in circles and up and down, and this way gives some of the smaller ones the opportunity to bounce around and slide in a very safe atmosphere,” Schulz said.

Last year, Games Galore worked with Murphy Brothers on a trial basis, Lerud said.

Jerry Murphy, Murphy Brothers Carnival president, said reactions were very positive.

“It adds a lot of action for the younger children at the fair,” Murphy said. “When you go to a fair, the more exciting rides, or fun foods, or different things, it’s all about an experience.”

The rides Games Galore offers at the carnivals include an obstacle course, a water slide that is 22 feet high and 60 feet long, and a play area designed for children ages 2 to 6.

“Take the water slide on a 90-degree day in Arkansas, there’s going to be a line of 75 kids the whole time,” Lerud said, adding that the obstacle course and bounce houses are also very popular.

Hal Terrell of Fargo, a Games Galore employee, takes the games to the carnivals, and Games Galore hires locally to watch the games, Lerud said.

Corey Heiser, Games Galore managing partner, coordinates lining up labor for the carnivals.

Games Galore has two new locations this year and expects to keep growing with Murphy Brothers, Lerud said.

“Murphy Brothers is adding more sites all the time,” he said.

Games Galore buys its games from professional manufacturers the company connects with through the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo.

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Life is a carnival

Posted by CarnivalMidways.Com on June 8, 2010
Posted in: News. Tagged: , .

Source: John Nickerson – Stamford Advocate

Carrying 6-by-6-inch blocks of wood in the searing sun while setting up the Grecian Festival on Newfield Avenue, Robby Roberts wasn’t about to let the heat get him down.

Just a year into his gypsy-like odyssey as a carnival employee — “Carny” is a fightin’ word except amongst and between the brother and sisterhood — the happily driven Long Island native was for the first time on his own erecting the 65-foot Landslide ride on the property of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.

With sweat coming off his brow, Roberts, 33, remembered the carnival saying when things looked tough.

“Rain, sleet, hail, snow we still have to set up the Dreamland show,” he said with a smile.

The day before, Roberts with 22 other Dreamland Amusement employees had just made the “jump” from a carnival on Patchouge, Long Island that ended at 5 p.m. on Monday, Memorial Day.

After bringing their semitrailers hauling 14 rides along with seven or eight fifth-wheel camping trailers to the Newfield Avenue church, they rested on Tuesday, said Bob DeStefano, who technically is the Dreamland consultant, but everybody knows him as boss.

DeStefano, between rides to the hardware or auto parts store for needed maintenance items, had just two days to get the show up for its Thursday 5 p.m. opening.

DeStefano, 49, another Long Island native, did not seem too worried on that Wednesday morning about his rapidly closing deadline, which he has faced over the past 20 years.

From New Hampshire to North Carolina, he puts on about 45 shows a year from late March through October, he said.

He says living on the road is fine. The travel trailers have electricity, water and kitchens.

“When we get out of bed, we are already at our workplace,” he said.

Making their life place to place with each other is fine with him.

“The world should be more like a carnival. If you work, you fit in. It doesn’t matter what your sexual preference is, race, color or creed. Everybody who joins the carnival and works becomes like family,” he said.

All around the parking lot, men were moving equipment, setting up the rides like the Gondola Wheel, car ride, Space Saucer and kiddie swing. All were sweating.

DeStefano said Roberts was the cheerleader of the group and if there were 22 more of him he would sleep better at night.

Up on the top of the hill next to the church and Newfield Avenue, Roberts was just about finished putting the wooden blocks under the jacks holding his gargantuan ride steady for the shrieking kids who would be taking their big slide down the tallest ride of the show.

As he talked about being able to make $20 per day “draws” from their upcoming Wednesday night paycheck on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he played the Landslide like a violin.

A lot of people, he said, want to work a carnival when it’s all set up and the lights are flashing and people are having fun. It is glitzy, even glamorous, he said.

“But when it comes to the tear down, we lose a lot of people,” he said.

Reaching up beyond where a man of his 5-foot, 4-inch frame ought to, Roberts pushed the green button igniting the hydraulic motor, and the Landslide began to rise.

After running around the ride installing pins and locking the tower into place, he looked up and smiled.

“That is the first time I have ever done that, baby,” he yelled to a few of the crew assembled around the rig.

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On the road: He grew up in family’s traveling carnival, and now he runs it

Posted by CarnivalMidways.Com on May 10, 2010
Posted in: News. Tagged: .

Source: STEPHANIE JONES – The Journal Times

When Ronald Kedrowicz was 1, his parents bought a giant octopus ride.

The next year they bought a trolley train and a kiddy Ferris wheel.

By the time Kedrowicz, who goes by “Chip,” was 7, his family had enough rides that they started their own traveling carnival.

That was the start of Rainbow Valley Rides Inc., which is in Racine this week and which Kedrowicz, now 43, has traveled with every summer for his entire life, along with his family. Now his own wife and kids and his brother’s family have also joined the summer tour, which starts in May and runs through Labor Day.

The family lives in the Stevens Point area most of the year. Then throughout the summer the Kedrowicz family and approximately 45 workers travel all around the state for church festivals, carnivals and fairs. They set up their rides, food stands and games, and they have a new home for a week.

A child’s playground

Growing up traveling every summer to new cities was a new adventure, Kedrowicz, now president of Rainbow Valley Rides, said. His friends always thought of it as his own playground for the summer.

In each new town, there were new kids for him to play with and new places to see, which he explored with his siblings.

Being the bosses’ son also “came with some perks,” he said, like free rides and free caramel apples and snow cones.

Life as the boss

Now, more than 40 years after his parents bought their octopus ride, the excitement of the carnival business is still there

“Out here I can write a book,” Kedrowicz said. “There is always something going on.”

There is the occasional Russian barbeque courtesy of some of the workers who come over for the summer from overseas, he said. There is also the weather. When there is a tornado in the area, “you are just praying, because if you lose your show you are out of business.”

A family business

The excitement is not the only perk, so is the time spent with family, Kedrowicz said.

Behind Boston Store in Regency Mall, Kedrowicz’s mother was in the carnival’s office sitting working at her desk, and his brother, Joe, stood smiling at his 6-month-old daughter in his arms. His two sisters no longer tour with the carnival in the summer, but they help out sometimes, he said.

Kedrowicz’s four children, ages 13 to 10, are in school right now, and his mother-in-law is taking care of them.

Being on tour without the kids is hard this month, said Kedrowicz’s wife, Teri, who was working in the cotton candy stand Sunday. But as soon as they get out. they join the carnival and they all move into the family’s summer home – a 45-foot RV.

Home away from home

The RV looks like a normal home inside. There is bread on the counter, a towel hanging from the stove, a table set with four placemats and a few dog toys on the floor for the family’s two dogs.

When everyone is there, two of the kids sleep in twin beds in a back room, two sleep on a pull-out in the living room and Kedrowicz and his wife sleep in the master bedroom in the front of the trailer.

Next door are the RVs for Kedrowicz’s brother and his wife, and his parents’ RV. They all love traveling together and seeing each other, but don’t want to imagine everybody living in the same RV.

“We love each other, but not that much,” said his mother, Lorraine, 70.

In the 40 years since Kedrowicz’s parents bought that first octopus, the ride is no longer with the carnival. But Kedrowicz cannot imagine doing anything else with his summers.

“I don’t know any other life. I’ve never been home in the summer,” Kedrowicz said. “It gets in your blood.”

He still has many more years in the carnival business, and he said when his kids grow up, the option to join the business will be there. But he is not pushing them. “It’s up to them,” he said.

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Carnival ride a century ago

Posted by CarnivalMidways.Com on April 23, 2010
Posted in: News.

Source:Margaret Caldwell – The Desert Valley Times

Today I’ll write about my past — when I was really, really young. Our family had finally left the farm and moved to the small town of Ashley, Minnesota. My mother was trying to sell books by Billy Sunday and my father was not settled on what he would do. In fact, he was spending most of his time at my older sister’s house complaining and regretting his sale of the farm.

I was left in the care of my sister Abby who was supposedly going to high school, but there was no school during the summer so Abby took me down past the lumber mill where a traveling company had set up a merry-go-round and other booths.

My eyes bugged out at the sight of the gaily-colored ring of animals moving up and down. Abby left me there mesmerized. I don’t know where she went. Probably to see more of the booths.

I was about five years old.

I stood, probably with my finger in my mouth, until I felt a touch on my head and a kind voice said, “Would you like to ride?”

Before I could move the man motioned for the wheel to stop and then he put me up on a wooden horse and motioned for the wheel and the music to start again.

I was in heaven.

Think – the year was about 1912. What I’m telling you is true. The man who paid for my merry-go-round joy was a good-natured old gentleman who owned a lumberyard. He had seen my sister leave and wanted to make sure I was not abandoned.

Those days life was simple. People were kind. I remember it all and I thank God for the ability to bring the scene back to mind.

Today, a man would not dare to come near a child. He would be afraid he would be arrested for assault or attempted kidnapping.

I hate having to compare the simple past with what is happening today. I am not one of the old people who live in the past, but I understand why some do not want to see reality as it is today.

I’m sure Abby returned, because I got home to live the long life God has granted me.

Blessed be!

Margaret Caldwell, in her 104th year, is the world’s oldest newspaper columnist.

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