Carnival Time!

all the lights, sounds, smells
send me back to my childhood
a welcome escape!

I loved the early summer when the carnival would come to our town. They would set up in the park behind the street across from us. We could see some of the rides from our front window- which my daughter (and myself) really loved! One day would just be a mish-mash of trucks and trailers and the next day the park would have been transformed into a sea of lights, activity, sounds, and smells! In fact, we would often pack a picnic lunch and walk over to the park with some of our friends and spend an entire afternoon watching them set up- the kids LOVED this! And once it opened... Ah- the odor of popcorn, and funnel cakes, and spiced nuts, and elephant ears....the sounds of the bells ringing when oversized prizes were won, music blaring, kids screaming with delighted fear from the rides, and the whir of the motors powering the rides...the sights of all the lights draped across the carnival area, the whirl of bright colors as the rides whipped by- and the people- I always enjoyed people watching at the Carnival; it was sometimes hard to tell who the workers were and who the Carnival goers were. Sadly, it was decided last year that for safety reasons it would no longer be held in that park- so the Carnival is no more; just the memories remain...