How do they set up and take down those rides at the carnival?
Page 4 • Wednesday, July 23, 2014 • The Hammonton Gazette
RIDES, from Page 1
occasion where they provide entertainment.
“The process starts a few days ahead of
time. if we are going to start on a Monday,
we try to get here by Thursday, for example.
Sometimes it is later and sometimes it is
earlier to lay out the grounds. We stake
everything out where everything is going to
go and we do that ahead of time. Then, we
go back to where we are working at that
week,” Vivona said.
Vivona provided a specific example of
being at one carnival grounds’ location and
then going to another one to start the setup
process.
“This week, we closed at the Cumberland
County Fair in Millville on Saturday night
[July 12], and we took it all down Saturday
night. We send somebody ahead that waits
to receive the equipment as it comes in during the night and as everything comes in it
gets put on location from when we staked
it out the week before. We have a few
things going on at the same time: We have
transportation, we are putting everything on
location and we are finishing wrapping up
where we were the week before,” Vivona
said.
as all the equipment for the rides and attractions is transported to a new carnival
site, Vivona said it typically takes from
noon to 2 p.m. the following day for everything to get there, then the setup process for
the new site commences.
“That is with the exception of a few
pieces of equipment that we don’t
need early. as we continue to bring
the rest of the equipment in, the
crew arrives and they move with
the equipment. everybody gets a
few hours of sleep, and then we go
with the setup process and we start
putting everything back together
again. We will get probably 60 to
70 percent of it done on Sunday.
everybody goes and gets a good
night’s rest, and then we get up on
Monday morning and finish it,”
Vivona said.
after all the equipment is set up
on the festival site, Vivona stated
the state ride inspectors arrive to do
all the inspections of the features
the company has assembled.
“We have personnel that accompany the inspectors throughout the
inspection process, and a maintenance crew that is available in case
they find anything that they don’t
like and needs to be repaired. We
take care of it immediately, and
then we open on that Monday
Local man
arrested
after latenight antics
by Gabe Donio
GazeTTe STaFF WriTer
HaMMONTON—Police were
called about a male, believed to be
drunk, banging on the doors of
apartments located between Central avenue and Vine Street at 4:45
a.m. on July 20, Hammonton Police Lt. Kevin Friel said.
“We received a call that there
was an unknown male, believed to
be drunk, banging on apartment
doors,” Friel said.
Kevin Douglas Jr., 26, of Hammonton, was confronted by police,
Friel said.
Friel said Douglas allegedly became combative toward police and
was charged with disorderly conduct and held until sober. He was
found to have a $500 warrant from
Hamilton Twp., Friel said.
Friel said Douglas posted bail
and was released pending a court
date.
Cpl. James Pinto was the arresting officer, Friel said.
night,” Vivona said.
it is a sometimes strenuous process and
it all depends on the time allotted from jobto-job and the circumstances that might
arise, according to Vivona.
“We can move the equipment overnight.
We can close some place on Sunday and
open some place else on Monday night
within 100 hours. We also can close on
Sunday and not open again until Thursday
and it will take every minute in between to
get it done. That is the best way i can describe it,” Vivona said.
Jeffrey Dosh is one of the workers from
amusement of america, and helped set up
and take down several of the carnival rides
and attraction equipment during the festival
in Hammonton last week. Dosh talked
about the process.
“Most of the time it isn’t that bad on us.
How we do it is we come out early in the
morning, around 6:30 a.m., and get everything taken care of while it is still cool out.
Some of the bigger rides do take hours upon
hours to assemble. When we are setting up
we are not in that big of a rush, but to take
everything down we are trying to get done
so we can all go to bed. i do this every
week, and i have been with them [amusements of america] since we were in
raleigh, North Carolina. it has been a little
more than four weeks. We have been out
here for a while now, so we have gotten
used to it,” Dosh said.
Since Ken Dulaney was in high school,
the Hammonton resident has helped assem-
ble and take apart carnival ride equipment
each year at the festival. Dulaney said it can
be a strenuous process.
“When they are here i just come and
help. This is my first time running rides, but
usually i help set up and take down. it was
really humid on Monday [July 14]. it was
just a long, hot day setting up,” Dulaney
said.
For the traditional Feast of Our Lady of
Mt. Carmel, which took place July 14 to 19,
Vivona said the setup process went as
planned, though the conditions were hot
and humid during the July 13-14 time period.
“The heat didn’t help, but everything
went f [