Why a carny??..

People often ask me about my life as a carnie. Why and even how I became one.. I generally have a form answer that I tell and that is..
I joined my first show at the age of 16 and it has been in my blood ever since..
That is in-fact the simple answer..

Carnies overall have a terrible reputation for being the "Dregs" of society and well, sometimes that reputation has been well earned. As a child I went to carnivals and theme parks as did many of you.. I remember riding the rides and walking past all the games with all the colorful prizes that were mine for the taking..I remember walking the midway hearing the screams of joy from the people on the rides and the raspy voiced pitchmen in the booths trying to get my mom to spend more money...Not much has changed since on that aspect..You can still walk through a midway and hear the screams and the see the toothless men and women in the games trying to get your money..That is their job..... No matter what I have done over the years, and I have had many real jobs over time.. I have worked as a carpenter, laborer, forklift operator and many many other jobs and few have ever seemed to satisfy my need for adventure and travel... I have learned so much over the years.. Some would call me a "jack of all trades" and we all know what they say about a "jack of all trades"? Can't hold a job.. True.. I could never seem to hold a job of any sort for more than a couple years at a time..With my addictions and inability to sustain anything substantial in life, I always returned to the carnival..

You see, when my mom died I went to a highly dysfunctional environment where quite frankly,I was told more often than not that I wasn't wanted there..So when I had the chance,I left.. I joined the carnival and suddenly I was among people that were just like me.. Misfits of society.. I had a family.. A surrogate one, but albeit a family just the same..

So as a kid of sixteen and making the kind of money I was making I was hooked.. I was given a place to sleep and I had food everyday and virtually no responsibilities to worry about..we were in a different town every week and there was a different girl in every town.. It WAS the life..

I managed to finish high school and did a couple things along the way, but as life went by I always felt the draw to return to the carnival. I am not sure what the lure was.. All that I think is, I believe it was the freedom to come and go as I pleased to, along with the sense of belonging to something, and the feeling of being wanted .. And of course the money was pretty damn good..

In the mid to late eighties and into the early nineties, the money was incredible..I worked for the same guy for about 8 straight seasons and was getting paid, for the most part, to party my ass off..I traveled the united states and had seen things that otherwise I probably would had never seen..For 10 straight years at the end of the season I took my money I had saved,along with the 10% bonus for staying the whole season and spent my winters where ever I wanted.. The last 2 big fairs of the season were the N.C.State fair and the Broward County Fair.. both ten days long and in each spot I came out with an avg. $4500.00 each.. only those two spots.. keep in mind there was 40-45 other spots throughout the season.. the economy was strong and the people played the games .. we were making bank...At 25 years old I was grossing around $70,000 in one half a years time... Staying in the best hotels, driving the best rental cars, and partying on the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen..Of course, with all that money and the ability to indulge in any vice that I chose, I did .. and I did it big.. Cocaine,weed,speed, you name it.. anything that got me amped up, I was in..I had often gotten a real job in some town that I took a shine to and lived a normal life for a while.. However, what was considered normal to most was certainly not my normality..Normal for me was a new town every week of the season and spending the winter just hanging out.. not doing much of anything but living for the day.. living for the next season..

So now another season is upon me and I am about to go out again for another 40 weeks or so.. Sometimes I often wonder where I would be had I done things differently and gone to college and pursued my mechanical engineering degree but then i realize, that would not have been me.. this is what I love to do..I am an entertainer of sorts..I travel and meet some of this countries most interesting people.. Sure, Carnies have earned themselves a bad rap, but overall they are some of the best people you could ever meet..I once had a First Baptist minister tell me that he trusts some of us carnies more than he trust some of his own church members.. I asked him how he could and he said.." Because you people tell it straight up, like it is.."And he was right we do..It takes a rare breed to last in this business.. You either love it or you don't.. There is no in-between..