Virginia Beach Double-Crossed The Carnies

I don’t mean to ,um, brag, but I’m the daughter of a carny.

Before I was born my father quit his job as a laborer at General Motors to join a traveling carnival. He ran a food wagon selling Taylor Pork Roll to the Southerners who loved the New Jersey delicacy. Or so he said.

I don’t know how long my father’s adventure lasted. Long enough to provide a lifetime of romantic stories about life with America’s nomads who traveled from town to town bringing thrills and cotton candy to the masses. Eventually the wagon - where my father slept and worked - broke down. Dad didn’t have enough money to get it fixed, so he reluctantly made his way back to New Jersey and a life of 9-5 drudgery.

Which is a long way of telling you that I have a soft spot for carnivals. I can’t resist them. I once took my Labrador retriever on a Ferris wheel when a friend and I spied a roadside carnival in West Virginia. It was too hot to leave the dog in the car, so we bought him a ticket.

Pro tip: Don’t take a dog on a Ferris wheel. Even if the carny smiles and says he’s welcome to ride.

Why am I talking carnivals today? Because the city of Virignia Beach just gave a big middle finger to one.

The carnival that has come to Mt. Trashmore every spring fr more than 30 years was essentially run out of town because of duplicitous behavior by city officials.

The fair was supposed to run from May 24 through June 17th.

According to news reports the city signed an agreement with the carnival owners that allowed them to set up operations at Mt. Trashmore for the usual three weeks. In return, the city would provide security. (There was a shooting in the parking lot of the carnival last summer that left a 15-year old dead. But if that was the reason the city didn’t want the carnival in town, why were they permitted to come at all?)

To the delight of families, the carnival opened on time. But three days later, the city ordered it closed, saying they didn’t have enough law enforcement available to staff it.

Geez, couldn’t one of the Mensa members in the Municipal Center have thought about that 10 days earlier. You know, BEFORE they signed the agreement with the carnival operators?

As a result of this capricious behavior, about 150 carnival workers were stranded and the traveling amusement park had no where to go until its next engagement. Oh, and Beach residents were left without one of the very few amusements that families can afford.

Hey even The Virginian-Pilot editorial board was sympathetic to the carnies:

Affordable, family-friendly entertainment is generally sparse in the city, making the carnival an appealing option leading up to the start of summer.

Sparse? Affordable family fun is nearly non-existent.

What followed was a lot of gibberish and double talk from city officials. A sheriff’s department spokesman told The Pilot “Our primary public safety responsibilities come first before private security functions, which are always staffed on an as-available basis.”

Again, one of the mid-wits at City Hall should have thought of this before they signed that agreement.

Can you imagine Beach officials treating any of their pet developers like this?

It would never happen.

No doubt the carnival operator will sue the city and we, the taxpayers, will wind up paying for this capricious behavior by public officials.

In a city with a concert venues and a spiffy new wave park, a traveling carnival next to a rehabbed landfill doesn’t mean much to the swells on city council. But to families with kids who look forward every year to the midway and cotton candy, the city just stole a piece of their summer.

Let’s be honest.

There’s something else going on and no one wants to talk about it. So we can speculate.

It appears the resort strip has become so dangerous that all available law enforcement has to be diverted there on summer nights and there’s no one left to send to the interior of the city. Prove me wrong. If the Beach isn’t experiencing another outbreak of gang violence and hooliganism on Atlantic Avenue, why are city officials suddenly talking about a midnight curfew?

Curfews are for cities experiencing riots, not family-friendly beach towns.

The people of Virginia Beach deserve some answers. Stow the excuses and tell us what’s really going on in what they like to tout as the “safest city of its size in the country.”

Save the meaningless patter for the carnival barkers.