Carnival & Fair News

Wold Amusements, Inc. located in Hanford, Calif. has been an on-going purveyor of amusement rides, games, and food to festivals and fairs for 35 years, or “many moons” as owner Jason Wold says. “We have 31 rides in all, and we just recently purchased a Flying Bobs ride built by Chance manufacturing,” he explains.Wold is excited about the recent addition of this ride to his line-up.

While he frequently looks at other ride and attractions, he notes “In terms of food and games, we haven’t done anything new; the standards do well for us.” 

The carnival operator recently lost his long-time partner, Rick Larson. “Rick just passed away, and he is greatly missed. He built the show with me; we grew it together,” Wold says. “I have been with him since I was 14 years old. He was a great mentor and just a great guy, a smart guy who touched a lot of people’s lives in a very positive way.” Wold notes that “There was a service celebrating him in Hanford, Calif. on Wednesday February 13th, 2019.” 

The service took place at 1:00 pm at the Whitehurst McNamara Funeral Service located at 100 W. Bush Street in Hanford; a reception followed at 3:30 at the Elks Lodge near-by. A past-president of Showfolks of America, Larson was in the Carnival industry his whole life, including working at his family’s Horse Derby Races, as well as owning American Traveling Shows, Inc later in life.

Wold Amusements employs approximately 70 people between games, food, and ride operations. “We started with Midway of Fun back in the 80s and 90s. In the mid-90s, Rich started American Traveling Shows, and I purchased the show from him in 2008, when he retired. That’s where Wold Amusements truly started,” he relates. 

“We operate year ‘round in California, Northern Nevada, and just in the last couple of years we’ve added a route in Southern Oregon.” The crew typically sets up on a Wednesday and tears down on Sundays, but the schedule can be busier than that depending on the duration of events and scheduling for travel. 

Wold terms one of his biggest events the Walnut Festival in Walnut Creek, Calif. “That is a good-sized event that draws a great crowd; it runs three and a half days and is very strong for us.” He says that “We do festivals more than fairs, primarily churches, chambers of commerce festivals, schools, and things like that.”The festival is a community tradition, held in the fall annually, and had its beginning in 1911. 

In general, Wold looks at the carnival business as “another day at the office for me, I’ve been doing it for so many years,” he laughs. That said, he adds “I have done this my whole life, and I love the business. Who else wakes up every day and has an amusement park sitting in their backyard?”

Wold began in the business by working his way up from a game worker at a goldfish booth at age 14 - to becoming the owner one of the most well-traveled carnivals based in California.

The carnival’s most popular ride is “still the Ferris Wheel” he attests, calling the wheel beautiful and traditional. His most unique ride? “That would definitely be my Rampage. It was originally manufactured by Watkins but re-built and updated by Wisdom. It’s a thrill ride, yes, but it’s also a family ride and it is the only one on this side of the country, which is pretty exciting. It’s a good-looking ride, very physically attractive,” Wold says. 
 
Wold describes his work as “moving rides. The biggest change on our yearly calendar is adding Oregon, and that is working out well. We have brought those fairs up well, but it’s all just one part of making the entire route grow, of course.” He adds “In terms of transportation and logistics, there is always bureaucratic stuff, logs and the like, and of course the H-2B Visa crisis is hanging over our heads, which everyone is probably saying. I missed the cut this year, so we will not see our guys until April, which makes things more difficult.”

For Wold, although his grosses are up, so is the cost of operating. “We struggle to keep the proportions equal as always. Everything seems to cost more today.

Ticket pricing for the carnival is $1.25 per ticket and wristbands are a fairly standard $30. 
 
For advertising, Wold is working on building a strong social media base. “We also do posters and flyers. We really don’t do radio, although I know some people dig it for promotion. My outlook on that and television advertising is that most people will hit the pause button on their TV and can then fast forward through commercials. With radio, people are listening more and more to Pandora, Spotify, and satellite radio. That makes it hard to market to local demographics in my opinion.”

He feels that even the value of billboards has changed a lot over the years. “People simply aren’t as receptive to their surroundings as they were say twenty years ago., I find more car passengers looking at their phones than looking at signs on the highway.” 

His belief is that adding to his social media reach through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will be the best way to build more business for his carnival. “Facebook has very good marketing options if you pay per region. You can blast a lot of Facebook feeds for something like $100 or $500.” The family-oriented carnival promotes specials such as “Buddy Day,” a two-for-one wristband offer, on its Facebook page as well, where it is also currently paying tribute to Larson.