By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Going into this past September’s Labor Day Celebration in Hoisington, Chamber of Commerce Director Karen Baldyga knew this could be the final year having a carnival option during the evenings.
Liberal’s Weee Entertainment based
attendance at this year’s celebration on whether they would return in the
future. Baldyga said Hoisington will be without a carnival for next
year’s Labor Day Celebration. The days of the smaller carnivals are declining
after the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the industry.
"I don't believe most of the carnival vendors received loans during the pandemic," said Baldyga. "A lot of the vendors get employees legally from Mexico. They use them as migrant workers for the summer. The struggle with COVID was they couldn't bring them over. Now they are trying to find employees, and everyone knows it's hard to get employees right now."
Hoisington always had the carnival rides available during the evenings Friday
through Sunday and then again in the afternoon on Labor Day.
Baldyga said
reaching out to other carnival vendors has proven to them that getting another carnival
in the near future will be difficult.
"We've also called carnivals that work with corporations, so you pay by the ride to bring them out," said Baldyga. "The cost for that is astronomical. We don't know how we would be able to afford a carnival that is going to cost close to $100,000 for maybe four or five rides."
The Chamber is asking the public for other ideas that they would like to see at
the Labor Day Celebration. All ideas will be presented to the Chamber’s Board
of Directors for consideration. You can access the link to submit your ideas at
hoisingtonkansas.com.