About this time in the spring, I start thinking of one of my best childhood memories. In April, the Thomas Joyland Carnival would make its way into Williamson for a week.
These types of carnivals would travel around to small towns to set up for the entertainment of the locals. They were usually based in the south; however, as the weather got warmer, they made the trek north in search of new venues to set up.
The Thomas Joyland Shows, owned by Lloyd Thomas, was a traveling truck carnival that made its debut in 1933 during the Depression. It had a strong route in West Virginia, Indiana and the Carolinas.
Old timers and Baby Boomers like me can still remember this carnival.
I recall watching the trucks carrying all of the rides rolling along U.S. 52 through our little community of Nolan toward “town” a couple of days before the carnival was scheduled to open up. I remember staring out the windows of our classroom at Nolan Grade School, hoping to catch another carnival truck whiz by with another ride. During recess many of my classmates would cheer as they saw another truck drive through, headed for the West End of Williamson.
The carnival rented space at the old City Softball Park next to the swimming pool.
It offered several rides for adults, teenagers and the little folks.
The carnival had the old faithful of most traveling amusement companies like the Ferris wheel, the merry-go-round, the haunted house, the glass house (or maze), the tilt-a-whirl (which made me sick), a small roller coaster and the one many avoided – the bullet.
There were many other rides along with the games, which were usually rigged to make it harder to win.
For example the basketball shooting contest. The rims were smaller than regulation size, and the balls were pumped full of air, so they bounced away unless you perfectly swished the ball through the hoop. But every athlete wanted to prove they could win at this goal to collect a small stuffed animal. It might take all of their cash, but many finally won the prize. Mostly it was for the pride of winning at this game.
There were other games like the cranes where you had to try to grab a prize of your choice with the claw on the small yellow crane you operated.
There was the ring toss where you tried to toss a small wooden ring on a liter of soda pop. For some reason I was fairly good at this game.
Of course there was the baseball throw, where you had to knock down the targets. You had to hit these perfectly and pretty hard to get them down. No matter if you were a good baseball player, this was more difficult than it appeared. I always heard some of the targets were weighted down so they would be harder to knock over.
There were the sideshows that featured things like the bearded woman, or a wild jungle woman, the fire eater, or the alligator or lizard man. Carnival sideshow acts historically combined human oddities, daring stunts and skill-based performances to entertain and provoke curiosity. I am sure there were other sideshow anomalies with Thomas Joyland, but I cannot recall all of them.
The carnival stayed for a week and you would hope the weather was warm and dry. Many times it would rain, making the carnival grounds muddy. I can still smell the sawdust they threw down to try to make the path easier if there was a lot of rain that week.
If you were lucky enough to go at night, the rides, games and concession stands were lit up with bright neon lights, something for young eyes to see.
If my recollections are correct, representatives of the “carny” would visit the local schools and hand out free entry tickets to encourage attendance. Those who did not have one of these tickets had to pay for entry at the main gate of the carnival.
The best day to go was on the final Saturday. That is when all rides were just 10 cents. So I always tried to save at least $1 for that last day to get the chance to ride on some of my favorites. Usually a few of my friends and classmates were there on that final day.
If you were patient enough to save enough money, you could hit the concession area. There was fresh popcorn, sweet red candy apples, and, of course, fluffy, sweet cotton candy.
Many of us did not have the chance to go to places like Camden Park in Huntington, let alone to bigger amusement parks like Kings Island, Cedar Point or Disney World. So this small traveling carnival was a big deal for many of us when growing up in the 1960s and 1970s.
The spring brings back this fond memory for me, and I hope this column brought some back for you as well.
Until next time.
(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)