Crazy & Co.

Event Planning, funfair events, Funfair Rides

Chance Rides, A Manufacturer Profile

14 July 2021

Our look today is at one of the larger ride manufacturers on the States. Currently producing a range of amusement rides, roller coasters, people movers and giant wheels. Chance Rides operate from a 40 acre site with around 310,000 sq ft of buildings in Wichita Kansas. The area is regarded as the aviation capital of the world, and provides a large pool of highly skilled workers, along with many specialised manufacturers.

The C.P. Huntington Train

The original C.P. Huntington was a locomotive purchased by the Central Pacific railway, the third of their loco’s in 1863. When it was sold to the Southern Pacific railway company it was named in honour of Collis P. Huntington, their third President.

Richard Harold Chance, who had originally been building small trains for the Ottaway Amusement Company since 1946, designed a 2ft guage replica of the Locomotive. In 1960 he began to build these using petrol, diesel, propane or electric engines for sale to amusement parks, zoo’s and similar.

The very first one was delivered to the Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita. Replacing their original miniature train that had operated since 1933. It has been the most popular park train model since The Allan Herschell Company merged with Chance closing down the production line for their Iron Horse train. The company has built over 400 trains and coaches for customers around the globe. With prices running upwards of $200,000 for an engine and $60k or so for a coach.

Chance Carousels

Chance Manufacturing was incorporated in 1961 and by 1971. They launched their first carrousel (deliberately spelt that way by Chance) after they had acquired the Allan Herschell Co. At that time the largest Amusement ride manufacturer in the States. Their designs were modified to a more ornate decorative style. The company then acquired Bradley & Kaye in 1986, another carousel manufacturer to acquire their stock of molds. David Bradley had reproduced many of the historic carousel figures in fibreglass and had over 60 molds for them. When the D.H.Morgan carousel company was merged into the group it added even more unique figures for the company to use.

This wide range of ornate, highly detailed animals has become something of a trademark on Chance built carousels.

D.H. Morgan Acquisition

When Chance acquired Morgan, and formed Chance Morgan, they didn’t just get access to the companies line of carousel figures. But also its roller coaster manufacturing line up.

They had built coasters as early as 1969, producing the Walter House designed Toboggan. A portable ride where a train climbed up a vertical tower before spiralling back down the outside. They built 32 of these and also introduced a children’s big dipper coaster.

The integration of the D.H. Morgan line took their ability to design coasters to a new level. With their own track manufacturing technology and the ability to offer a range of designs.

Ferris Wheels

1967 saw the first Ferris wheel from Chance, debuting at the Iowa State fair. Carrying 32 passengers in 16 cars. Their first park model was an 8-ft Giant Wheel for an amusement park in Minnesota. A tie up with Ronald Bussink, of Switzerland and Dutch Wheels BV, part of the Vekoma rides organisation saw the combine building observation wheels. Giant wheels that place the riders in cabins or pobs rather than seats. They acquired the rights from Bussink Design GmbH to build and sell the R80XL 76metre wheel in North America.

Sources;

Wikipedia

Chance Rides

Chance Morgan

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Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story

Candy Floss Questions, FAQ’s

11 July 2021

Over the years we have come across a multitude of questions about candy floss. Some are quite sensible, others belong in a joke book. We are going to look at, and try to answer some of our favourites.

Can Dogs Eat Candy Floss

Candy floss in itself isn’t harmful to a dog. It is basically pure sugar. However it will lead to a blood sugar spike, then subsequent drop, which isn’t the best thing for your pet. Because most breeds tend to be smaller than humans this will be more pronounced, and because dogs aren’t used to a sugar intake that high it amplifies the effect. So we wouldn’t recommend giving them more than a pinch of floss.

Who Invented Candy Floss

A dentist. No really, it was a dentist. To be fair, he wasn’t just a dentist. He was a political activist, invented a method to purify Nashville’s water supply, wrote children’s books and invented a lard substitute. William J Morrison really was a dentist. He didn’t invent candy floss per se. Cooks had been making spun sugar for hundreds of years. What he did invent was the electric candy floss machine. Or as he called it then fairy floss. This enables large quantities of floss to be made very quickly. Previously making spun sugar was a tedious affair, suitable for topping small cakes and the like.

He debuted his machine in 1904 at the St Louis World Fair. It was an instant success, he sold 68,655 boxes of the stuff at $0.25 a pop. That’s the equivalent of selling $500,000 worth allowing for inflation.

Why Do Some People Call It Cotton Candy

If you call it cotton candy you are most probably from North America. Which is a little strange, because they originally called it Fairy Floss. Sometime after thew switched to Cotton Candy. The Australians and New Zealanders still refer to it as Fairy Floss. Us Brits Candy Floss, The South Africans Tooth Floss, though the Afrikaners call it Spookasem (Ghosts Breath). The French barbe a papa (Daddy’s Beard), Dutch Suikerspin (Sugar Spider), and the Persians Pashmak (Wool Like).

So the name all depends on where you come from.

Is Candy Floss Bad For You

We once read that there are no poisonous substances, just poisonous doses. For instance, water is widely regarded as one of the healthiest things you can partake of. However drink too much and you die. Candy Floss is the same, sugar, pretty much all it is made of, other than a minute trace of colouring. Is one of the basic requirements for life. No sugar in your body and you end up dead. So a little candy floss won’t do you any harm. If you eat nothing but floss, then you will become really fat, lose most of your teeth, and can trigger sugar diabetes. So our tip is everything in moderation.

Can I make Candy Floss At Home

You certainly can, chefs have been making it for hundreds of years. A simple recipe is available here. You can also buy cheap little electric machines that make it in the same way as the commercial machines do. Truth be told they are not very good, but they do work well enough for a kids party or similar.

Does Candy Floss Go Off

Not really. Bacteria, which is usually responsible for food spoiling, doesn’t like sugar rich environments. This is why throughout history sugar has been used to preserve food. You can’t get much more sugar rich than candy floss. Additionally the heat generated to make the floss, around 186 Celsius. Makes sure that the floss is pretty much sterile as it is being made.

However, what does happen, is that the floss gradually absorbs moisture. This leads to it shrinking back into its sugar form, so after a while you end up with a coloured sugar lump instead of a bag of floss. Happily popping it in the freezer means it will last months. The best bit is, you can eat it straight from the freezer as it doesn’t actually freeze. The cold air doesn’t contain moisture so it extends the life.

Is Candy Floss Halal

It can be. The ingredients are sugar, and basic colouring flavourings. Now sugar is just pure sugar so no problems there. The flavourings and colouring depends on what exactly is used. Red colour tends to contain the powdered shell of a species of beetle. Called cochineal it is a species native to North America. Alternatives are available, but if you want to be 100% sure then just eat white candy floss. That is made with nothing but sugar, and Silver Spoon brand is both halal and kosher.

Where Do I Buy Candy Floss Near Me

Any local funfair will sell floss. Many supermarkets have small tubs available. Or there are mail order sellers.

How Is Candy Floss Made

A band of happy pixies live in the bottom of the machine, merrily knitting the sugar in to candy floss and pushing it through the little holes in the centre of the machine for the operator to collect with a stick.

Of course some people claim there is a scientific explanation, personally we like the one above, but if you are one of those boring grown ups who think magic isn’t real, here is an alternative explanation.

The sugar mixture is poured into a rotating drum. The high speed of the drum forces the mixture against a wire mess around the perimeter. This mesh is heated to 186 degree celsius. This heat breaks the bonds of the constituent molecules (carbon, oxygen and hydrogen C12H22O11).

The hydrogen and oxygen atoms form molecules of water, which instantly evaporate due to the intense heat. This leaves only carbon behind, which burns and begins to caramelise the sugar.

As it caramelises the liquid sugar is forced through the tiny holes in the mesh and solidify as they meet cooler air. As this is happening thousands of times a second. You get a mass of candy floss composed of these filaments which are just 50 microns in diameter.

Why Is Candy Floss Pink

Actually it isn’t. Pure candy floss is white. The only ingredient is sugar. For other colours of candy floss you add a tiny amount of colouring. So it can be pink, blue, green, orange, yellow, purple and so on. It tends to come out as pastel colours, so you dont really get a deep red, it comes out pink.

Does Candy Floss Have Gelatin In

As a general rule no it does not. But, you would need to know the food colouring ingredients list used to change it’s colour. There are literally hundreds of different food colourings out there, so some may contain gelatin. To be absolutely safe, eat white candy floss, as this is entirely pure sugar.

What Goes Well With Candy Floss

Far and away the most popular is popcorn. The two can be combined on a single cart and are ideal for weddings, parties or events.

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Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story, General

Crazy Catering Units From Around The World

25 June 2021

At one time, catering units, be they on the fairgrounds or at private events, tended to be basically a box. Nowadays however there are some really crazy catering units available, so that not only are you getting great food, you also get a centrepiece for your event.

We are going to take a look at some of the craziness out there, ranging from pizza’s being dispensed by fire engines, to something that looks like its driven straight off the set of Mad Max.

MAXImus MiniMUS

This is definitely one of our favourites. Resembling some post apocalyptic street food vendor that wouldn’t look out of placing serving a burger to Mad Max himself. Build to resemble a pig, with a snout and ears, it was built in 2009 for Kurt Beecher Dammeier, it took its name from the two ranges of food it served, one with a heavy sauce (MAXImus) and a lighter range (MiniMUS). Sadly from what we can see it appears to have closed down in 2017

Baby’s Badass Burgers

We love this concept, though with the way things seem to be going we are surprised it hasn’t been protested. Set up by an ex restaurateur and an event planner, this has a definite attractive lady vibe. With burger names such as Cover Girl, The Other Woman, She’s Smoking and The Good Wife, and Burger ‘Babes’ (attractive female serving staff), to spread the burger goodness. The company now has a number of franchised operations outside of it’s home of Los Angeles, so obviously it works well.

Snog Yoghurt

A natural frozen yoghurt dessert, sweetened with agave nectar and under 140 calories. What’s not to like. So when you need your first mobile store what immediately springs to mind. It’s obvious isn’t it, an ex London A.E.C. Routemaster bus. Built by a company specialising in luxury bus conversions, the original Snog bus opened in London’s Southbank in 2014.

Military Pizza Truck

Built into a 6 wheel drive, ex military truck, this is another candidate for catering in the Mad Max era. This one is kitted out as a pizza truck, but maintains it’s military colour scheme and feel. It’s also available for pretzels, popcorn and various other dessert options.

Space Shuttle Cafe

This one is an extreme conversion. TBH, I can’t see you getting this past the DVLA in this country. It is built to resemble the space shuttle, but it’s not a converted commercial vehicle as you would expect, no sir, this one is an actual Douglas DC-3 airplane fuselage, that has been fitted with running gear and an engine. It has a commercial kitchen and rest room built in.

Pizza Fire Engine

This is one of our favourites, so much so that we are actually carrying out a feasibility study to see if it’s something we can emulate for our own range of catering options. There are a number of versions plying their catering trade, including a couple of examples in good old Blighty. We particularly like the Company 77 effort, with a working water cannon (good for keeping the queue in order) and a photo booth built into the jump seat.

Airstream Catering Units

Originally built as caravans designed in America in the 1930’s. The sleek shape and highly polished aluminium finish is unmistakable. A number of companies make similar models, but Airstream is the oldest. For decades NASA used a modified Airstream trailer to transport astronauts to the launch pad. They have become increasingly popular for use as catering units both in the States and Europe.

Westport Flea Market Burger Van

Not strictly a burger van, this is more of a promotional item to advertise the Flea market Bar and Grill. But we included it just because of the sheer quirkiness, and the work that has gone into it.

Snowcat Burritos

If you happen to be skiing in the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, in Sierra Navada, and you are hungry. Then you are in luck, as they have a burrita stall built into an actual snowcat. Well, they actually have two, one serving burritos and the other Calzones. They are also planning to add churros with strawberries and cream.

Keep checking back as we will add more examples as we come across them.

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Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

The Carousel Works, A Manufacturer Profile

13 June 2021

The carousel was long a mainstay of funfairs and amusements parks throughout the world. As one of the first, big amusement rides, it transcended the generations and is still operating regularly today.

It was estimated that in the USA, at one point there were around 5000 carousels. Sadly when the great depression hit the number dwindled and gradually as the 70’s rolled around they kind of fell out of favour with maintenance costs making them unviable in the financial climate of the times. Numbers fell to to around 150.

Many of the carousels from the great historic manufacturers such as Dentzel and Charles Looff suddenly became more valuable for their parts than as actual rides. At auction horses from these master carvers were bringing in an average of $40,000. One example, a St Bernard went for a record $250,000.

As with many traditional skills and crafts, the art of manufacturing these works of art was in serious danger of disappearing. Fibreglass and metal carousels were still being produced for the market, and whilst still beautiful and ornate rides, weren’t the individual unique masterpieces of yesteryear.

Fortunately two friends decided that it was still possible to make a successful business with individual hand crafted rides.

Art Richie

Richie started carving in 1973. Leaving college on a Friday and opening his first business making plaques and other wooden goods the next day. One day a customer asked for a quote on carving a carousel horse, Ritchie told him around $1800 and laughed the guy couldn’t get his cheque book out quickly enough.

Dan Jones

The other founder of the company was a construction worker who had carried out repair and maintenance work on a number of historic carousels. Together their skills made a perfect complement for the initial business of restoration.

Carousel Works

In 1986 the duo formed Carousel Works. The aim was to work on existing vintage carousels, to repair and renovate them. Keeping part of the amusement industries rich history working. Their ultimate aim however was to design and build new carousels.

This dream was achieved in 1991 when their first carousel was delivered to Richland Carrousel Park in Mansfield Ohio. Becoming the first new wooden carousel to be delivered since the 1930’s. With 30 horses and 22 menagerie animals the ride was carved in the style of G.A. Dentzel,one of the all time greats in carousel history.

The lovely thing about wooden carousels carved in the traditional manner, is the variety and uniqueness of each animal. They are all individual one off carvings. Modern carousels with fibreglass horses will have used perhaps three or four different designs meaning large numbers of the horses are identical.

60 Carousels And Counting

Since then the company have delivered in excess of 60 rides around the world. They currently have 28 employees including painters and carvers. The animals are made the old fashioned way by gluing blocks of basswood together before being cut into a rough shape by machine, then hand carved into intricate works of art. Despite what people believe, the figures aren’t made from single blocks of wood, this wouldn’t be flexible enough and would crack. Instead they are anything upto 70 individual blocks glued together.

Looking at their list of clients they seemed to have cornered the market in carousels for Zoo’s!

Their designs all start the same way, with a blank sheet of paper. They are truly one of a kind, using traditional skills and craftmanship to keep alive a great tradition. Their offerings include over 160 different animals for the ride. They are happy to work with a client to create something totally new. Whether its an unusual animal for a zoo, or something specific to a corporate clients design. A couple that stand out were the chariot carved in the shape of a pile of dung being pushed by a dung beetle, and a dog food company had one cared as a bag of dog food with a puppy sticking its head out.

This customisation extends not only to the animals on the ride, but also to the decorative panels that adorn it, each ride is a work of art.

Not Everyone Is Happy

Evidently however there are some who are not happy. Their willingness to innovate and new style has drawn criticism from some of the carousel ‘purists’. Who feel that they cannot compare to the great designs from Looff, Dentzel et al. A similar reaction was encountered when car firm Bentley announced it was going to manufacture some new examples of its historic Bentley Blower model. Perhaps they feel it will devalue their investment in historic carousel horses if new ones are still being made.

The favourite quote on the subject we heard came from Bette Largent, president of the National Carousel Association. She exclaimed “We didn’t stop painting after Rembrandt died!”

With the nostalgia that’s now back in fashion, and the fact that historic carousels are fetching upwards of $1 million, the company is perfectly placed to thrive with a stunning hand crafted product at a great price.

UPDATE

Sadly since this was published, the company has sadly filed for bankruptcy. Details here…

Sources;

Mansfield News Journal

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Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events

Blast From The Past, A Look Back At Our Old Blog

5 June 2021

I was using the wayback machine recently to look up an old website. In case you don’t know it is a site that has indexed and stored past examples of peoples web pages so you can go back and look them up years later.

Looking around at some of our original blog posts that disappeared when our original blog software stopped working. In the old days we didn’t have Word Press and Blogger. Blogs were either hand built, or created using desktop software. We used a program called Tangelo, quite happily for a number of years. Anyway, I am going to reprint a few of the more humorous posts. Sadly on many of them the original images have not been stored, so they might be text only.

Bimbo’s Last Stand 2008

History is littered with tales of heroic last stands, usually against forces much bigger than the defenders, there was Rorkes drift, The Battle of Gandamak and The Battle of the Imjin River all fought by British troops, the Alamo and Battle of the Little Bighorn by our American cousins and the immortal Camarón which established the Foreign Legion as one of the world’s elite fighting forces.

Predating all of these was the Battle of Thermopylae in Greece when King Leonidas and his Spartan soldiers, accompanied by a force of allied Greek city states, held back a much larger Persian force under Xerxes for three days in one of the most memorable and eulogized last stands in classical antiquity. Well now we have another last stand on the island of Greece to rank up there with the battles of antiquity.

Bimbo Bishton

Bimbo Bishton, who we occasionally work with, has for a number of years provided Victorian carousels for the Christmas event in Athens. A venture which has proven both lucrative and enjoyable over the years. This year however there was the little problem of a major riot taking place after the shooting dead of a young Greek boy.

The rioters went berserk in the city square and flattened pretty much everything, setting fire to hotels, shops, cars and anything else that took their fancy. Slap bang in the middle of this stood alone the slightly portly figure of Bimbo armed only with 3 fire extinguishers, facing a crowd which Bimbo estimated at 100,000, but the BBC world service claimed to be around the 10,000 mark (I suppose when you are facing them alone it looks more like 100,000).

Petrol Bombs And Arsonists

I spoke to Bimbo about the events and he explained one particularly tense moment. It seems a young Greek man was holding a petrol bomb in one hand and trying unsuccessfully to strike his lighter in the other, all the time Bimbo was trying to convince him not to set fire to his ride, (Bimbo told me at this point he was debating whether or not to kick the said young man in the testicles), the potential arsonist appeared to be taking no notice of Bimbo when his lighter suddenly flared to life, he looked at Bimbo, shrugged his shoulders and promptly threw the bomb at the giant Christmas tree, so really it is Bimbo’s fault that the Athenians lost their famous tree. As the night wore on our intrepid hero was stoically holding his ground when a cloud of teargas drifted his way and proved to him why it was so named,

Bimbo said that at this point he was more interested in water for his eyes than in guarding the carousel, but luckily for him one of the rioters explained that water is no good for tear gas, you need lemon juice to neutralise the chemicals and obliged by providing some I can categorically state however that rumours Bimbo is thinking of setting up a Jif lemon stall at future events are untrue.

Thankfully both Bimbo and the Carousel survived the evening. Bimbo even remarked at how civilised the rioters were, as he put it, there were very few injuries and signs of violence against people, it all seemed to be directed at property, indeed one vendor in a street kiosk remained open throughout the riots and wasn’t molested in any way.

Oops 2009

Arthur almost struck again last weekend. What happened was this, we were contracted to supply 4 games units to an event in the North East. One of these games was our striker (test your strength machine) which is 13ft high. On arrival we were shown the room which would accommodate these games, including the high roofed part of the building where the striker was to be positioned. Due to the fact that once erected the striker would block the door, we were told that we couldn’t erect it until after all of the guests had arrived. This isn’t a problem as it takes a matter of seconds to assemble the device.

We carried it into the room and left it on the floor near to where it had to go. Almost everyone had arrived when we were told to put the striker up. As we pushed it skyward we discovered to our horror that the room was about 6 inches to low! As we stood there wondering where to go, one of the guys who had hired us told us to push the plastic roof tile out of place and let the striker poke into the attic.

We did this, but try as we might the tile remained wobbling in position. Arthur decided to go to the pool room and bring back a long extension bar to dislodge the tile, which he promptly did just as the managing director’s wife walked through the door. If she had been two steps quicker, Arthur would have subjected her to a drastic reshaping of her nose, something along the lines of amputation without a general anaesthetic!

Luckily everyone present had a sense of humour.

Flash Bang 2009

Coming back to the yard last week I notice a large stretch of the adjoining field being dug up. After investigating I discovered that the electricity company are removing the overhead power lines (which run over the middle of our property) and re routing them underground. This is an extremely good idea, especially considering what happened a few years back.

To protect those involved, I won’t name any names John Henry, but I was sat eating breakfast early one morning, contemplating starting to load everything up ready for the move to northallerton. At the time it was absolutely throwing it down with rain, and I didn’t really fancy making a start. Anyway, whilst I was psyching myself up, I suddenly heard a yell, followed by a crash, more yelling and some Anglo Saxon language. Coming out to investigate, I came across the unnamed person (John Henry) who was hobbling about with smoke coming from one of his boots.

What had happened was that he had an aerial mounted on a long pole, fastened to the drawbar of his trailer (caravan). To remove this ready for hitting the road he had to lift it up a couple of foot higher , the power cables ran directly overhead, and with the amount of moisture in the air, a spark of electricity had jumped from the power lines, into the Aerial, down the pole into his knee where the pole was resting and out through his boot to earth!, luckily when he dropped the pole he missed my car which was parked next to him so it could have been much worse.

The Really Really Great Garage Sale

we recently supplied a mulled wine and hot dog cart to an event in London. This was organised by a bunch of celebrity mums including Yasmin Le Bon and Louise Redknapp. I started the day by nearly walking into Yasmin Le Bon, and ended it by her just stopping short of driving into me.

One of our new recruits, Ray, pictured below(in his apron and plastic antenna) spotted someone he recognised part way through the day, “Look Oliver Lance”, he exclaimed.
“Who the heck is he”, I said, thinking it was some rugby player or sports personality.
“She’s off one of them Australian soaps”, said Ray
I wondered why she had a blokes name and asked Ray, “she hasn’t”, was the reply, “She’s called Oliver Lance”

Turned out he was talking about Holly Valance! You can take the guy out of Barnsley, but you can’t take Barnsley out of the guy.

It turned out a quite enjoyable day with amongst others Melanie Blatt, Trinny Woodhall, Christina Estrada all making an appearance.

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Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

Newcastle Hoppings, A Major Fair

1 June 2021

Newcastle Hoppings is the largest travelling funfair in Europe (though both Nottingham Goose fair and Hull Fair also claim the title). A major fixture in the funfair calendar. Held in the North East city of Newcastle Upon Tyne over 9 days in June.

With over 300,000 visitors a year, and featuring over 60 major adult rides, and a plethora of children’s rides, games and catering to match. The event is held in June to coincide with the Northumberland Plate. Part of the flat season races for horses of three years or older.

It is situated on the Town Moor, a large grazing land just outside the city centre (during the first world war it was held in Jesmond). The showmen commonly refer to the event as the Town moor, or even just ‘The Moor’, rather than the hoppings name used by the locals.

Temperance Festival Association

The driving force behind the establishment of the hoppings, was Alderman William Davies Stephens, chairman of the Temperance Festival Association. The association, typical of the Victorian era do gooders, felt that the horse race would attract drinking and gambling. They wanted to provide a temperance festival for the miners and other workers as an alternative, to save them from the fires of damnation.

I suppose in a way it was a better idea than the Americans had. Our abstinence gave us a major funfair, the American prohibition gave them Al Capone.

Early Years

In the beginning, the event will have been typical of fairs of that era, stalls, games and sideshows would have formed the bulk of the event. Indeed in the North East, funfairs are often referred to as ‘The shows’ in allusion to the preponderance of that type of attraction.

These tended to be animal managaries, or the popular at the time human freak shows. Large steam powered rides were appearing on funfairs by then, and quite possibly would have attended the hoppings, but at that time they were still a supporting act.

Over the next 50 years the event began to resemble what we would recognise today. With some of the early thrill rides appearing, Octopus, dive bomber, waltzers, all designed to fly you higher, spin you faster and scare witless.

A well known ride, the Moonrocket of Shaws, built in 1939. This was typical of the early rides that would have appeared at the Town Moor.

The Modern Era

Nowadays, well not 2020, and possibly not 2021 due to the little matter of a global pandemic, most of the top rides from around the UK appear at the event. Immaculate examples of the old favourites such as dodgems and Waltzers still jostle with the thrill rides for customers. There are fabulous examples of all the current funfair games, children’s rides and food stalls.

A look at the fair from the air shows the sheer scale of the event. Hull and Nottingham might possibly have more rides in attendance, or be classed as bigger due to some other statistic. But for sheer acreage, there isn’t anything else in the UK that comes near.

2013 was notable for the fair being cancelled due to the severe weather leaving the ground in a poor state. Work has since been carried out to improve drainage and add a metalled road to prevent a recurrence.

Charity

The event was always noted for the free riding the showmen provided for a number of charities, the Variety club would bus as estimated 3000 children in to enjoy the showmen’s efforts, usually on the first evening of the event.

Indeed records indicate that the very first year of the festival saw a tea provided for 1000 of the cities poorest children.

The Name Hoppings

When we used to attend the event, I often wondered about just why it was called the Hoppings. I presumed it was one of those stories lost in time. However recently I came across the official website for the event, maintained by the Freeman of the City/Newcastle Council. They offered two possible explanations for the name. One is that hopping was a very old name for a dance.

The other explanation the offer, is that the showmen used to wear sacks as cloths. These would become infested with fleas and the showmen being bitten would ‘hop’ about. Hmm, the photo below is a typical old image of showmen. Actually one of our earliest corporate entertainment crew who provided a show for Queen Victoria. Take a look, although it is in a poor state, it sure looks to me like they were wearing regular type cloths. Nary a cloth sack in sight.

Sources;

Wiki Hoppings

Hoppings Funfairs

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Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story

13 Weird Hot Dogs From Around The World

27 May 2021

One of our most popular lines happens to be hot dogs. The standard hot dog, with mustard and ketchup has been a staple fast food, forever. When we decided to move it up a gear and offer hot dogs from around the world, with fillings such as sushi, nachos, even candy floss, we thought we were being a bit edgy.

Out of interest we started looking at what other countries actually offer in their dogs, boy were we surprised, what we thought was edgy was nothing compared to some of the crazy stuff you can eat in other parts of the world.

Here are a few of our favourites;

Tokkebi From South Korea, The Deep-fried Delight

Take one plain ole wiener, coat it in batter, deep fry it, then cover it in diced French fries. This is one crazy combo that could almost be a complete meal. Found mainly from street food vendors, the chips are sometimes replaced by ramen.

Choripan, Argentina’s Upgraded Dog

Argentina, famous for invading mall South Atlantic Islands, footballers who score goals with their hands, and Gabriela Sabatini. To be fair the footballer in question was also fabulous when he wasn’t cheating.

They also produce one heck of an hot dog. Not for them the usual mystery meat concoction of left over parts of various animals. No, they use a high quality Chorizo sausage, that is is seared to make it crispy, then slotted into a toasted bun. Add chimichurri sauce or tomato salsa and you have the final evolution of the hot dog.

Tunnbrödsrulle, The Crazy Swedes Entry Into The Hall Of Fame

This is what you get if you take a hot dog, stick mix it with onions, shrimp salad, lettuce, mashed taters, mayonnaise and stick it inside a tortilla. Oh and don’t forget to add the requisite mustard and ketchup.

It hard to tell if this is a hot dog or a sandwich wrap. Either way it ranks up their alongside Abba and Volvo in things to love from Sweden.

TBH it looks like the culinary version of a split personality, some sort of existential crisis wrapped in a flat bread.

Taiwanese Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang

The name of this fairly uneventful looking dog, translates as big sausage wrap small sausage. The bun you see in the picture isn’t. It is actually another sausage made from sticky rice. Add in sauces including black pepper and our favourite wasabi, and you have something unlike any other hot dog you will meet.

Chinese Pastry Hot Dog

If the Swedish entry is an existential crisis, this one is a full on split personality. Is it a dessert or is it a main. Take your bog standard frankfurter and wrap it in sweet pastry. Its so obvious, you wonder why no one else is doing it.

They also come coated with different topping such as cheese, icing frosting, egg dough. Its as if you have been talking in your sleep about your favourite foods, and an alien has decided to make them for you, having never actually seen them before.

Khanom Tokyo, Is It A Hot Dog Or A Breakfast Roll

Thailand takes the existential crises of the Taiwanese hot dog and takes it to the stage of certifiably insane. Of all the things you would naturally think to stick a hot dog in, a pancake would surely be the first thing that comes to mind.

Made from flat pancakes that have a mixture of savoury and sweet ingredients such as quail eggs, sugar ,cream, Someone in Thailand came up with the idea of sticking a sausage in. The dish is said to hail from around 1960 and was served at the opening of a Japanese department store (which could explain the craziness), its now a staple of Thai street food.

Czech Párek V Rohlíku Hot Dog

Compared to the oriental offerings this one is plain simple. A hot dog in a bun. Where it does differ slightly from what you are used to, is that this is pretty much like the roller dogs you sometimes see in service stations. A crusty bun that has had the middle cut out and the sausage inserted. Quite neat really, though you need to add your toppings before you had the dog.

Brazil’s Completo Hot Dog

This one is less of a fast food snack and more of a meal for 2, Take a hot dog sausage, stick it in a large flattened bun, add ground beef, peas, corn niblets, bell peppers, onions, potato sticks, parmesan cheese, carrots, diced ham or bacon, cilantro, and top it off with a hard boiled quail egg. It is a wonder the Brazilians aren’t all the size of the Americans.

Peru’s Salchipapas Hot Dogs

A weird one this, there is no bun and the hot dog is sliced. Placed on a bed of fries and garnished with the usual mustard and ketchup, then chilli sauce and mayo for added tang. You can also throw in salad, fried egg and cheese. A staple street food found in various South American countries this ain’t what springs to mind when you say hot dogs.

Puka Dog Hawaii

A mish mash of hot dog traditions this one. A Polish sausage, grilled then slipped into a sweet bun. Dress with relishes, garnishes and tropical mustards and voila, another entry into the hot dog hall of fame.

Norwegian Pølse Hot Dogs

You don’t get much simpler than this, well there are some single celled organisms I suppose, and that lad I once sat next to at school, but in the hot dog world this is bare bones. Sort of the Trabant of dogs. Simple, easy to make, no frills and it just works.

A tortilla, with a sausage in and a dollop of condiments. Enough said about Norwegian dogs.

Denmark’s Pølser

Though it shares a name with it’s Norwegian neighbour, the Danish version is a whole different beast. The sausage spills out of the bun, both ends, its filled with Danish remoulade, sliced pickles and onions and tends to be served on special occasions. The one stand out feature is the sausage which is a vibrant red colour, reminiscent of the British saveloy. It originates from bygone times, when vendors would dip their poor quality sausages in red dye to ‘spruce’ them up.

New Zealand Hot Dog

Our cousins across the Ocean’s take on a hot dog is very similar to what our other cousins across a different ocean (the Yanks) would term a corn dog. Basically a battered sausage, deep fried and served on a stick, with ketchup.

However you look at it, the humble hot dog is as near to a universal food as you will find. Sure, some cultures take it in a weird (to us) direction, but at the heart of them is usually the hot dog sausage.

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Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

“Work From Home…If You Can”

23 May 2021

‘Work from home if you can’, has been the echoing call, since the first lock down in march. The call from Boris Johnson and his team.

Due to the current pandemic many businesses have been closed and working from home has been of paramount importance. With many people turning rooms in their homes, or escaping to the garage to put together a make shift office.

One you probably wouldn’t think of is a work from theme park set up. In Japan they have announced a new initiative in order to encourage working from home. The initiative being to utilize their theme parks. A large theme park in Tokyo is offering ‘workcation’ packages. Giving employees across Japan the opportunity to work next to a beautiful pool or even on a Ferris wheel! yes that’s right you can work from a Ferris wheel.

The park charges 1,900 yen which is roughly around £14 for a weeks ticket pass. The pass includes a booth located at the pool and an hour in a private carriage on the Ferris Wheel. WIFI services are located throughout ready for you to connect your laptop or tablet to.

Japans, Work From Home Management

Japan, although a large country has managed the pandemic very well and is currently near normality with the rest of the theme park also open, which means that after a hard days work you can pay a little bit extra and purchase a park ticket allowing you to chill and unwind on all the fairground rides available…although remember you cant scream on the scary rides because that is against the covid rules.

Japan has primarily moved their businesses to being based at home. The government requested companies to have around 70% of their employees working from home. With this in mind they have been coming up with new inventive ways to encourage staff to take this option, Firstly they introduced the Theme park scheme, and then secondly they placed workstatiosn around National parks that people could rent and visit in a hope that people would reconnect with nature.

An IT solutions firm FLEQ was among one of the first companies to encourage employees to work from the theme park. In the first week around 10 employees used the amusement park as their new office. Feedback from the employees was all very positive! however some said it was hard to concentrate at first as once on the Ferris wheel they just wanted to admire the view!.

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Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

The Dive Bomber, History Of an Iconic Ride

10 May 2021

Most of the early funfair rides were things like carousels, Noah’s arks and dodgems. Exciting rides, but all with a similar movement, you go around in circles. What we would call thrill rides came later, and nowadays most of the high thrill attractions have you leave the ground. One of the earliest examples of this was the Dive Bomber.

Initially created by the Eyerly Airc r aft company which was formed to create equipment to help train pilots. They moved into the amusement ride arena, and gradually moved away from their original business model. Much of what they designed had an aviation feel, and the dive bomber was no exception.

Roll O Plane

Patented in 1938 by Eyerly, as the ‘Roll-O-Plane’, the ride had two cylindrical shaped cars on the end of a rotating boom. As the arm rotated the ends of the cylinders rotated to keep the riders sitting upright. The chain drive made it a particularly noisy ride, added to the usual decor of a fighter plane and it was an imposing, thrilling ride for the era.

Lusse Dive Bomber

Lusse Brothers of Blackpool (American designers) developed the ride for the UK market under licence from Eyerly. Building their first version in 1939 and the last of 25 examples in 1949. With the recent end of WWII the ride was perfectly themed for the fairgoers of that era.

One of the drawbacks was its low passenger capacity, but a number of enterprising UK showmen, joined two rides together to double this as in the Carters model above.

The rides were a high maintenance device and eventually fell out of favour, I can just remember them as a kid in the 80’s and only for a few years. Truth be told I seem to remember them having a propensity to fold up, what Elon Musk would call a RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly). The testing regime in those days wasn’t as developed as today, with x-ray and dye penetration testing, so I think the metal was a little overstressed for the job it was doing.

The Modern Bomber

Like many things in life, the wheel turned and a new version appeared. Built by Italian manufacturer Fabbri as the Booster Maxx, this is a much bigger, much faster and carries a lot more riders (up to 16). It is also a lot more sturdily constructed with modern techniques and materials. It is easily one of the highest and fastest rides on the circuit. Bringing the same aerial thrills to new generations.

Sources;

National Fairground Archive

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Event Planning, Photo Booths

Betsy The Camper, One Of Our Quirky Photo Booths

6 May 2021

Meet Betsy the camper van. A photo booth with a difference. The original photo booths on the party scene were basically boxes. Much like the old Woolworths or Post Office booths where you would go for a passport photo. Indeed some of the first models used inkjet printers, so not only were they slow. but you would have to wait for the ink to dry.

As things progressed they started to use dye sublimation printers. These used rolls of paper matched to rolls of ink, the paper would be run through the print mechanism four times. Cyan, Magenta and blue would be overlaid on the paper to form the image, then a clear laminate film sealed over the top. The prints were not only quick, but instantly dry and water proof.

The booths themselves though tended not to change much, still being basically boxes. Then quirky booths began to appear. Booths in London taxi cabs, classic mini’s, a telephone booth, even a Del Boy Trotter van had a booth in.

Mini Camper Booth

We had booths installed in all of the above. We were always on the lookout for something different we could stick a booth in. Looking around different vehicles we came across a mini camper van. It looked like a VW camper that had been shrunk. So we investigated. It turned out to actually be a Subaru Sambar. It was one of a special range of vehicles sold in Japan called Kei cars. These had to be no more than 3.4 metres in length with an engine no bigger than 660cc.

Our particular model was actually a high spec version. It had the 660cc supercharged engine, along with four wheel drive and an interior that allowed the front seats to swivel around and face the rear seats. Along with two sunroofs.

The car in its basic guise looked nothing like a camper. However the Japanese seem to have an obsession with VW campers. This led to numerous firms converting them with fibreglass panels to look like the VW T2 campers.

The main change is the addition of a large VW front grill, along with side panels and stainless steel bumpers. A close look will rapidly reveal it isn’t a genuine VW, but it is surprising how often people will ask if we had a VW specially shortened.

Ours was a blue and white colour when it arrived. We had it resprayed pearl white and candy apple red. Along with a new leather interior in red and white and an internal respray of all the panels.

For festival themed jobs we added a roof mounted surf board to dispense the prints, a music system playing Beach Boys songs and tiki themed dress up accessories.

Chauvet Mini Camper Booth-300x169-1 — Chauvet Mini Camper Booth-300×169-1

Betsy The Camper is definitely a perfect match for festival themed weddings and events.

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