Autumn Leaf Festival is on track to be as enjoyable as ever, Clarion Area Chamber of Business and Industry Director Tracy Becker said this week, but it is possible there won’t be a carnival of rides and games around the courthouse area this year.
“The carnival is up in the air right now,” said Becker said, who started contacting carnival operators months ago and has received a few return calls.
There are multiple reasons why there might not be a carnival this year, she said, including high costs of traveling with a full complement of rides and games; a lack of people to work for the traveling shows; and ever-tightening state regulations and inspections for carnivals.
With the festival fast approaching — Sept. 24 through Oct. 2 — Becker said she hasn’t given up on finding a carnival company.
“I’ve been calling out of state to see what might be out there,” she said. “I’ve been calling into Ohio and all around, but I’m just not hearing anything back from them.”
Any carnival operating in Pennsylvania must be certified and inspected by the state Department of Agriculture’s Division of Amusement Rides and Attractions, which annually registers more than 800 ride owners and 10,000 individual rides and attractions.
Becker said a spate of carnival ride accidents has led to tougher standards.
“There are a lot of differences between rides that are in a fixed place and those that travel and are set up and torn down many times during a season,” she said.
In April, Becker contacted last year’s ALF carnival operator, but found out the company was already booked.
“I asked if they had any recommendations,” she said. “They are good to work with, but they couldn’t suggest anyone. I contacted the Pennsylvania Showman’s Association and got the names of 30 or 40 carnivals, but no luck so far.”
Other attractions
Aside from having a booked carnival, Becker said this year’s festival is shaping up well.
Popular events like the “Touch a Truck” activity at the mall, the fiddlers contest and the corn hole tournament are all scheduled and already collecting participants.
The big farmers and crafters show has 326 spaces assigned to participants. Becker said there is still time for a few dozen more to sign up.
Becker said crafters from as far as North Carolina and New Jersey have reserved spots for crafters day.
About 125 people have signed up for the car show, but Becker said that number could double the day of the show if the weather is good.
She is especially excited about this year’s ALF theme and logo “Autumn Adventures.”
“I think it’s the most colorful logo we’ve had in a long time,” Becker said. “We have some jigsaw puzzles with the logo this year. Those are selling very well and we’ve ordered more of those.
“We have really colorful and new T-shirts this year — better T-shirts than we’ve ever had.”
No pageant
Although most of the festival lineup is returning, the Autumn Leaf Festival Pageant will not be held again this year as ALF organizers are still working on what the pageant will be in the future.
Becker said the pageant takes a tremendous amount of time and volunteers at a time when schools are beginning their new year.
“There is just so much going on at the time, so many (high school) sports and activities, and the pageant takes weeks of rehearsals,” she said.
“It was so hard to get it done right. I’d see the girls working on homework between rehearsals and I’d ask them why they couldn’t do the homework the next day, but they had other things scheduled the next day, too. It was very hard on them.”
Becker said she hopes the pageant, now focused more on providing academic scholarships, will resume in the near future.
“It might be that we have the competitions in the summer, prior to the festival, and the winners can still preside over the whole festival,” Becker said. “We’re really looking for a new direction. We’re certainly open to any new ideas.”
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