The Annandale carnival – a fun outing for some, a lifestyle for others
The Annandale carnival – at the Kmart parking lot through April 14 – is more than a destination for a fun outing – it’s a workplace with over 60 employees.
“We’re all like a family,” says crew member Terrie Johnson.
Dreamland Amusements is a family-owned business that was established in 1994, says David Erickson, an on-site manager.
It’s a family-oriented carnival, Erickson says. “Kids love the rides, there are teens on their first dates, and some people just come for the funnel cake.”
This is the first time Dreamland has set up in Annandale. It’s just one of many stops, as the carnival travels along the East Coast between Florida and Vermont. During their off-hours in Northern Virginia, the carnival workers stay in trailers or a bunkhouse at a campground in Manassas.
For many of the people that work the show, “it’s their life’s work,” Erickson says.
Mark Cline, age 51, who was manning the duck ring toss game Saturday afternoon, spent his entire life in carnivals. As a child, he traveled the country with his mother who worked with Royal American Shows, one of the largest carnivals in U.S. history.
That carnival was so big, with some 3,500 employees, that it had a four-room schoolhouse in a trailer and had teachers among its staff.
The youngest of six children, Cline is the only one with a carnival career and, despite having earned an associate degree in psychology, he says, his siblings view him as the black sheep of the family with a “scumbag job.”
What’s great about working for a carnival is “seeing people happy, meeting new people; new places and new faces,” says Johnson, 49, who was handing out a live goldfish prize to a child who managed to throw ping pong balls into goldfish bowls filled with colored water.
Johnson ran off to join a carnival at age 18 “when I was young and adventurous,” and has been working in the business ever since. When Dreamland takes a break in the winter, she heads home to Ohio where her three children are living.
While there are many long-term veterans on the staff, there are always new people signing up for the carnival lifestyle.
Harris Williamson, 48, joined Dreamland a month ago after a long career in homebuilding in South Carolina, because he wanted to see more of the country. He was planning to check out D.C. during his day off.
Working at a carnival has been better than he expected, says Williamson, who sets up and takes down the rides and helps out at the games. He likes to be in a place where “everyone is having such a good time.”
According to Johnson, the duck pond and shark tank are the easiest games, while Erickson says the best bet is to play a game where you can use your skills, like darts and basketball.
If you don’t get a chance to visit the Annandale carnival, there’s another one, operated by Reithoffer Shows, at Landmark Mall through April 28.
