ALF is recovering, but the carnival remains uncertain
The Fall Foliage Festival is on track to be as fun as ever, Clarion Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry Director Tracy Becker said this week, but it’s possible there won’t be one this year. carnival rides and games around the court area.
“Carnival is in the air right now,” Becker said Monday afternoon.
Becker said that although she began contacting carnival operators months ago, she received few return calls.
Becker said there are many reasons there may not be a carnival this year, including the high costs of traveling with a full package of rides and games; a shortage of people to work for traveling shows and increasingly tight state regulations and inspections for carnivals.
“A lot of them run on cash,” Becker said of the carnival companies. “Some just can’t make it this year; others can’t find people to run the rides.”
With just a few weeks left, ALF begins Sept. 24 and runs through Oct. 2, Becker said he hasn’t given up on finding a carnival company to set up for the fall holiday.
“I’ve been calling overseas to see what might be out there,” Becker said. “I’ve been calling in Ohio and around, but I’m just not hearing anything from them.”
Every carnival operating in Pennsylvania must be certified and inspected by the state Department of Agriculture’s Department of Amusement Rides and Attractions, which registers more than 800 amusement ride owners and 10,000 individual rides and attractions each year.
Becker said a series of accidents at the carnival over several years led to tougher standards.
“There’s a lot of difference between rides that are in a fixed location and ones that travel and set up and break down multiple times over the course of a season,” Becker said.
Becker contacted last year’s carnival operator ALF in April, but found the company was already booked.
“I asked if they had any recommendations,” Becker said. “They’re good to work with, but they can’t suggest anyone. I contacted the Pennsylvania Showman’s Association and got the names of 30 or 40 carnivals, but no luck so far.”
Aside from a booked carnival, Becker said this year’s Fall Foliage Festival is going well.
Popular events such as the “Touch a Truck” activity at the mall, the fiddle contest and the corn hole tournament are all planned and already drawing participants.
“We could really use some volunteers to help run some of these things,” Becker said. “But they are all together.”
The Great Farmers and Craftsman Show has 326 spaces set aside for attendees, and Becker said there’s still time for a few dozen more to sign up.
“We’re having a good comeback,” Becker said of the dwindling attendance over the past two shows. “About 75 percent of our vendors have been here before and about 25 percent are new.”
Becker said crafters from North Carolina and New Jersey have reserved spots for Craftsman Day.
About 125 people have signed up for the car show, but Becker said that number could double the day of the show if the weather is good.
Becker said she is especially excited about this year’s ALF theme and logo, “Fall Adventures.”
“I think it’s the most colorful logo we’ve had in a long time,” Becker said. “We have some logo puzzles this year. They are selling very well and we have ordered more of them.
“We have really colorful and new T-shirts this year, better T-shirts than we’ve ever had.”
While most of the AFL lineups are returning, the Fall Foliage Festival Competition will not be held this year as AFL organizers are still working on what the competition will be in the future.
Becker said the contest takes a lot of time and volunteers at a time when schools are starting the new year.
“There’s so much going on at that time, so many (high school) sports and activities, and the competition takes weeks of rehearsals,” Becker said. “It was so hard to get it right. I’d see the girls working on their homework between rehearsals and I’d ask them why they couldn’t do their homework the next day, but they had planned other things the next day. It was very difficult for them.”
Becker said he hopes the competition, now focused more on providing academic scholarships, will resume in the near future.
“It could be that we have the contests in the summer, before the festival, and the winners can still headline the entire festival,” Becker said. “We’re really looking for a new direction. We’re certainly open to any new ideas.”
Editor’s note: The CLARION NEWS will publish a special Fall Foliage Festival supplement in the Sept. 20 edition of the paper, featuring a complete ALF schedule, listings of events and activities, and photos from past festivals.
