Let it ride

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This article was published 27/08/2021 (1497 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Only two customers had stopped by the “knock ‘em off” game in the two hours the fairgrounds had been open.

So 15-year-old Eric Bonas, who was working at one of his first jobs, beckoned passersby to try their luck — $5 for two shots.

“Two people played so fair, and none won, so maybe you could be the first one,” he says.

Neither of the players was successful at knocking over the three stacked plastic cups. They failed to win one of dozens of identical stuffed animals in the carnival barker’s stand, but Bonas earned a tip for his trouble.

On the opening night of the Fall Fair, the Red River Exhibition Association’s first carnival in two years, it poured rain after a summer of drought. Despite the poor weather, chief executive officer Garth Rogerson, is upbeat about the pandemic-tweaked event, where only those who’ve been twice-vaccinated against COVID-19, along with children under 12 accompanied by an immunized adult, are allowed in.

“For the last couple of weeks, people have been saying the drought’s over, the Ex is in town,” Rogerson says with a chuckle. “We don’t like to joke about that, but it certainly is disheartening… but that’s why we go 11 days.”

There are always rainy days at the regular Red River Ex every June. Two years without an event have been tough on the association’s coffers, as well as all the businesses that normally work the summer fair.

“We’re looking forward to 10 good days,” Rogerson says, noting the plan is to run a fall carnival next year, too. “We’re here, and we’re going to hope for the best.”

Rogerson says there was a lineup outside the gate just before the grounds opened at 5 p.m., amid heavy rain.

On Friday, there was a steady stream of families, teens and couples who braved the rain as they waited in line for Starship Invaders, a spinning ride in which thrill-seekers are peeled to the outside wall while music blares. Fair-goers who have missed the corn dog, pizza and candy stands won’t be disappointed. The event will go on rain or shine: horse shows are prepared, the bands are booked.

A cover band plays The Devil Went Down to Georgia to a small crowd, most in disposable rain ponchos, holding umbrellas. At the entrance to the stage, one of four, there’s a hand sanitizer station — dozens dot the grounds, and each rider’s hands are sprayed down before riding the Zipper, the ferris wheel and the big swinging boat.

It almost feels normal, apart from the glaring differences: the hand sanitizer stations, the masks on the faces of gate attendants who check vaccination status and sell tickets to rides. No one pats down attendees at the security gate, but they do wave metal-detecting wands over each person. There won’t be any indoor events this year, and attendees are asked to wear masks in the washrooms. This year, the big American carnival ride operator couldn’t get across the border. Instead, two local shops are running the show.

Ken Fransoo, 64, took his teenage daughter and her friend out on opening night. He figures she’s been cooped up too long — getting tired of sitting in the boat, fishing with her dad.

 

“This is fantastic, out, being able to see other people,” he says. “It’s been a long time, a long year-and-a-half. It’s really nice to be able to do something.”

 

Fransoo says he’s concerned about the virus, of course. But everyone at the fair is double-vaccinated.

“I’m fairly comfortable… (as safe) as you can be.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera