I walked out of the Pagosa Springs Arts Council gallery in Town Park on Thursday evening, after covering the opening reception of the 10th Annual PSAC Juried Art Show ... to see a truckload of pink elephants pulling onto the playing field across the street.
I’d frankly never seen pink elephants in Town Park before — and I wondered if I’d had a bit too much wine at the reception? Continued...
I had my camera hanging around my neck, and I snapped a couple of shots of the elephants as they circled the field, followed by a trailer full of enormous strawberries. Obviously, the 4th of July carnival was in town already.
And it wasn't even the end of June yet ...
The next day, Friday, I had a chance to sit down with the owner of A Great Northern A’fair, Inc: Tim Mattfeldt. Tim and his wife Dana — who are based out of Arizona and who provide rides and all year long at various county fairs and civic events throughout Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico — started their carnival company in 1997, following in the footsteps of Tim’s parents, Vern and Rene Mattfeldt, who got into the carnival business in 1988. (Tim’s brother Steve also operates a carnival, according to the company website.)
“After college, I had a corporate job — but I didn’t like it, so I returned to Phoenix to help my parents, who already owned a carnival. And I met my wife, Dana; she came from a carnival family. We got together, and we decided we’d start our own little carnival. And twelve years later, here we are.” Continued...
Carnival owner Tim Mattfeldt, in the light blue shirt, gives directions during the company's set-up process in Town Park on Friday. The carnival will be operating through Sunday, July 5 from noon until 10pm each day.
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Mattfeldt told me the company covers Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, “but once in a while we do rentals out in California.”
What did he mean, “rentals”?
“Movies, commercials. Sometimes they will rent some of our rides. Our rides were in the movie, ‘Wild Hogs.’”
So they’re movie stars?
“Our rides are. I’m not in the movie. In fact, one of the rides that was in the ‘Wild Hogs’ is here now. The Hammer.”
So people might want to come ride the Hammer, just because it was in a Hollywood movie, I suggested.
Mattfeldt laughed. “Well, it was a great family movie.”
 And you might say A Great Northern A’fair is, in many ways, all about families. There are not too many day-to-day activities in modern life, it seems, that can draw American families out of their living rooms to enjoy an event together.
Carnivals are one of those rare events.
“This will be our second year in Pagosa Springs. We’ll be operating starting tomorrow [Saturday, June 27] through next Sunday, July 5 — if we can get everything set up by tomorrow. The field is still a bit damp.”
Indeed, Pagosa has seen a rather wet spring and summer so far this year. How does a carnival — with all its outdoor activities and games — deal with Colorado weather?
“Well, people here know how to deal with the weather — they know rainstorms happen every afternoon. They’ll just go and sit in their car until the storm blows over, and then they come back and keep having fun.”
Mattfeldt noted that the closing day, Sunday, July 5, will feature “the ever-popular all-day wrist band, for $17. That wristband will be good from 1pm until 9pm. Last year, that was very popular, because the day after the 4th, all the locals could get off work and come down to enjoy the carnival all day at a reasonable price.”
Mattfeldt ticked off the list of rides they’d brought to Pagosa this year: the Flying Carpet, the Para-sail, the Ferris Wheel, the Rip Saw, Flying Pink Elephants, the Berry-Go-Round...
"Cars and motorcycles are always popular. We have a new ‘Carousel Bounce’ that looks like a big carousel — one of the few in the world. We have the ‘Psunasaurus Fun House’ and the Indigenous Dinosaur Dude — that’s the only one like it in the world." Continued...
“We try and have unique rides — enough for the teenagers, but mostly geared towards families.” The carnival also features the typical edible fare: corn dogs, funnel cakes, cotton candy, candied apples ...
“And we have lots of games — lots of ‘winner every time’ games.” Mattfeldt said the hardest game to wind is the Machine Gun game, where the player has to shoot out the star in the target. The easiest game is the Fishing Game, where every ‘cast’ catches a prize — with a chance of winning the “Super Ring.”
“We want to make sure every kid is able to go home with some kind of prize.”
Tickets purchased are good for the whole week, and the carnival operates each day from noon until 10pm.
Mattfeldt noted that some people seem to think a carnival is a drain on the local economy, but he doesn’t think that’s the case.
“Our payroll for the week will be about $10,000 — and most of that will be spent at local Pagosa businesses. Carnival workers like to spend their paychecks as soon as they get them,” Mattfeldt smiled. He also noted that the carnival will spend about $4,000 on fuel and will contribute at least $13,000 in fees and taxes to the Town of Pagosa Springs.
He also bought an ad in the Daily Post — and paid cash. I spent most of it later that day on food at City Market. But I set aside a few bucks for corn dogs — and maybe a ride on the Hammer.
You can learn more about A Great Northern A'fair, its history and its commitment to safety at the company website. |