Source: Shaun Hittle – LJWorld.Com (*Click link for Slide show and Commentary*)
His life is a carnival; it pretty much always has been.
And when you ask the work crew to see the man in charge of all the rides at the Douglas County Fair, they direct you to Ricky Moore, the man in the Hawaiian shirt.
Every year, Moore and his crew of about 70 carnival workers roll into Lawrence. They’re always coming from a fair, and heading to another one, after a five-day stint in Douglas County.
When Moore, 53, says he operates a “family business,” he’s backed by a mountain of evidence. The carnival life stretches across six generations of the Moore family. His grandfather started the business — Moore’s Greater Show — in 1930, handed it down to his son, who in turn handed it Moore.
It’s a cycle that was all but guaranteed to continue after Moore met his wife, Janie.
“I made her a carnival woman,” he said. The couple then proceeded to create yet another Moore carnival family, which today includes two sons, a daughter, grandchildren and cousins.
All told, “there’s about 20 Moores out there,” Ricky said. At nearly any time, and at any spot at the Douglas County Fair, a Moore family member is in sight, operating a game booth, making funnel cakes, fixing a ride or taking tickets.