The tiny sign off the side of the road caught my eye, over to the right, in front of the turn that takes you to where so many of my fellow city folks used to make their living crafting that fine Syracuse China.
All that and more.
Ah, yes, I remembered hearing the radio ad and seeing the news bit on TV.
It’s time for the annual Eastwood Carnival.
I took that right turn.
It’ll be over there.
I saw some action going on way down yonder and drove toward it, past the new company on the left and the little league complex on the right.
Come here, Mark.
You’re invited.
I parked my Chevy Cruz and stepped out with my iPhone 6. Workers were turning the final nuts and bolts on the rides and food stands and Midway game booths that will be the three-day Eastwood Carnival.
A guy saw me taking photos from the outside of the fence and invited me in. A couple of friendly women in front one of the concession stands waved to me and asked if this meant they were going to be in the paper. No, ma’am, answered I. I wonder if she’ll see this blog and their photo in the gallery below.
Click an any photo for a description. Click and hold the bottom right photo for an enlarged slide show.
The carnival runs tonight through Saturday in the parking lot at the former Syracuse China. I believe my dear wife Karen and I will make an appearance to support our neighborhood.
Here’s the link to the Eastwood Neighborhood Association site.
What’s your favorite carnival ride, and why? What’s your favorite midway game, and why?Which is your favorite photo, and why?
Mark Bialczak 
I love ALL carnival rides, Mark. And I also love carnival lemonade and french fries. 😉 YUM! Once my son Jeremy won a fish who he promptly named “Rex Rachel Carrera” after his two favorite names. (I don’t know where he came up with Rex.) Sadly, Rex Rachel didn’t even survive the ride home. 😦
LikeLike
I love that Jeremy loves your name, Rachel Carrera. As do I. Rex. Hmmmmm. Sorry about fishy’s short span.
LikeLike
Hey Mark – I like the slideshow view of the photos – and my fav is the opening photo. It really captures the essence of these small traveling carnivals – as the sign sits upon the weathered pavement – the single cone – and the whole vibe –
LikeLike
Thanks, Y. I love that shot, too. It’s so desolate. Which these things really are except for the few fleeting and frantic hours when the locals fill the rides and food booths and money boxes. Then, pack up and drive to the next parking lot or weed-filled field.
LikeLiked by 1 person
you are so right…. “pack up and drive to the next parking lot or weed-filled field” – very interesting business to be in – and I love the smell of funnel cakes at events like this – and the taste of those greasy yummies…
LikeLike
Yes, the smell and taste of the greasy yummies is pretty dang special, Y. Oh, my. ;-o
LikeLike
I love the action in some of the photos but will savor the french fries and funnel cake photo. It is good it is on the computer and won’t get ruined from my drooling. We have the Delaware Arts Festival, so plan to go around and scope out things with Jenny (a.m.), afternoon with Anna and ‘beer garden with band’ and then Sunday will be checking out the pottery artisans with my female friend, Marty. Smiles and hope you have a fantastic weekend, Mark.
LikeLike
Sounds like a plan, Stan. (Female version.) 😉 Have a great time, Robin. I am listening for MDW Karen’s car to pull up in the driveway from work now to run out and to Chipolte for dinner on a gift card and then get our weekly food shopping done. Yay!
LikeLike
My first thought was: Oh my, the state fair seemed bigger when I was a kid. Glad to learn it’s only your neighborhood festival.
LikeLike
Yeah, not yet state fair time. That comes the 12 days before Labor Day, Scott. 🙂
LikeLike
I love carnivals! My favorite ride was always the Octopus. Food? Can’t beat fried dough dusted with powdered sugar.
Ever attend the Timonium State Fair when you lived in Maryland?
LikeLike
Oh, Kate, I drove past the Maryland State Fair many times in my six years living in the wonderful state, but was always preoccupied with another task! I wish I had not been so single-minded back them. (Sports, sports, sports.) 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What? No women? 😀
LikeLike
OK, yes, sports, sports, sports, girls. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL LOL Love the order of importance!
LikeLike
I don’t do rides any more. I gave those up when I tried riding after I had my first child and got sick all of the time. Probably related to the hormones but I never went back for rides. Now food on the other hand…… 🙂 What’s not to love? You can eat all you want because you work it off walking round and round and round …… though the last festival type thing I went to didn’t have rides. But it DID have deep fried oreos…..
LikeLike
The walking and food and people watching are fun, fun, fun, MBC. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t been on a ride in YEARS and I doubt I could tolerate it now, but LOVED the Tilt-a-Whirl as a teen/young adult. Just something about flying around in circles… Come to think of it, as an adult I’ve been a few times to a Sufi zikr where we’ve done the whirling practice and I love that too. So apparently I have a thing for twirling…
LikeLike
Maybe you should go to a Phish concert, Leigh. Plenty of twirling there. 🙂 Have a great day, my friend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just look at that beautiful blue sky! I do enjoy a carnival ride. For me, back in the day, the tirt-a-wheel (not sure of the spelling) was our favorite ride. My siblings and I would take our mom and have so much fun.
LikeLike
The tilt-a-whirl was one that was too out of control for me, Aud, for keeping things down! Oy. Nevertheless, yes, the blue sky!
LikeLike
Tirt…that’s the Nebraskan in me…giggle. Thanks for clearing that up, Chum. Yes, we had a potty issue one time. Too much laughter.
LikeLike
Oh there’s nothing like a carnival. Funnel Cakes… Lemonade… French Fries and Malt vinegar! Ferris wheels! Candied apples! THE SPIDER! Love it all! I like all your pictures Mark! I can’t pick a favorite!
LikeLike
Thank you, Nancy. I hear a little nostalgia for the Cleveland carnival in your voice. 😉 Thanks for the kind words about my photos, too. I’m going to attempt to grab some in action.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahhhh….very perceptive Mr. Mark! Yes… but I may be able to take part in the fabulous fun when I get back to the Cleveland area this summer! Funnel Cakes here I come!
LikeLike
Ah, yes, the magnificent return to fried dough, Nancy. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, they all make me dizzy! I’ll take the funnel cake but probably get powder all over my black jeans.
LikeLike
Ha, yes, the powdered sugar does cause quite a scene at that, Kerbey.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I was in catering years ago, we did a swanky version of carnival food with a seared tuna skewer wrapped in wasabi cotton “candy” and funnel cakes with drizzled with bourbon creme anglais! I love roller coasters too, but the old school kind – not the new kind that flip you around inside and out.
LikeLike
Your new-school food and old-school ride sound fantastic, Kimi. 🙂
LikeLike
I can’t really stomach rides anymore Mark, but I love carnies.
Hey you got me thinking with those ladies wondering if they were going to be in the paper. You know what I did for just such occasions? I made myself some cheap-as-dirt personal business cards for my blogs online through vista print and when I’m out and about taking pictures, or asking for permission to take pictures, I give people my card with the blog site addresses and tell them when I’m going to post it. People like seeing themselves in print and who knows, it might even bring more readers! 🙂
So what’s your fave ride Mark? ❤
Diana xo
LikeLike
Diana, I am so d’oh! I have, say 400 of the 500 blog address cards I had printed by Vista Print the very first week I started it! How about I again make a habit of carrying them around as you do? Thanks for reminding me.
I no longer have a favorite ride, though. It used to be the permanent amusement park rollercoaster. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My favorite photo of course would be the funnel cakes and french fries pic. Up in New England they sell fried dough at carnivals. Do you have that in NY? Virginia definitely does the funnel cakes too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they call it funnel cakes or fried dough or even elephant ears, Barbara. When I was a kid in Brooklyn, we’d get a version at the Italian festivals by the name of zeppoles. And our Polish variety, cooled off, is called Cruzstik. So many ways to call dough and sugar!
LikeLike
And fat, Mark! Don’t forget the fat. I remember a phase when my husband actually made these things at home. We were in our twenties and he could eat anything and everything without gaining weight. Now it’s yogurt and oatmeal.
LikeLike
Homemade belly blasters. Oh, my, Barbara. Those were the days. No longer, I agree. 🙂
LikeLike
Only on Sunday mornings. How gross. The entire house would reek of cooking oil. I put a stop to it eventually. Bwahaha.
LikeLike
Nooooooooooo…….!!!!!!! 😀
LikeLike
That’s me on tilty rides. And going backward. Nooooooo, Angie McFly!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just say nooooooooooo LOL!
LikeLike
i used to love going and enjoyed it all, from corn dogs to spinning rides of all kinds. can’t go on anything that spins anymore, but love to take the grandies. lots to see and do and smell.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Going with the grands. How special for you, Peaches. 🙂 And thank you for bringing up the smells, too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Whew! No rides for me Mark. The only ride i ever tolerated was Space Mountain in Disney – and that is because it is all closed in and dark. i don’t mind the physical effects – it’s the sight of the world spinning that drives me nuts. I do enjoy the energy and the delight of the youngsters. i can wander around all day with a soda and spun sugar treat and soak up the good vibes.
LikeLike
I absolutely, positively loved Space Mountain at Disney, Paul. That was at my younger fatherhood peak, say 20 years ago, when I loved each and every rollercoaster. But in the indoor Space Mountain, I rode it several times with my teen-aged niece and nephew, each time shouting as loud as I could, stay low stay low stay low! as the beams passed inches above our heads.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had one here a few weeks ago during a cold snap. Carnies in winter parkas and knit caps, with signs of “Iced Cold Lemonade”,barking out “Everybody Wins”, while folks lined up for $50. ride wristbands at ticket booths with adjacent ATM’s….It was quite a scene. I like to walk through and people-watch…it never gets old. Deep-Fried Oreos ! Van
LikeLike
Fifty buck ride wristbands. My, how time has passed me by, Van. No thankee. Pass on the Deep-fried oreos, too. They do that sort of thing at the New York State Fair, too. Let’s deep fry something we shouldn’t!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Although..I can be talked into a funnel cake now and again !!
LikeLike
Me, too, Van. I just have to avoid the sugar on it. 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is fun is fun
LikeLike
Thanks, 365. Big fun to come. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 super
LikeLike
I like the one of the two women out front. You can really see all the mayhem that a carnival is! I try to avoid amusement park rides at all costs. The majority of them just make me dizzy. Coming from my recent Legoland adventure, some of the water rides were fun.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think water rides are just as much mayhem, Marissa. No?
LikeLike
Perhaps. They just seem a bit more fun than terrifying. And then, these raft rides and flumes don’t seem to go around as much or at least not at such a high velocity that they make me nauseous.
LikeLike
I get nauseated on the whirling and twirling rides. And anything that takes me backward. And tidal waters. I think that covers it. 😮
LikeLike
Okay, we can sit on the bench together…
LikeLike
And people watch, Marissa. 😮
LikeLike
Oh yeah, that’s me all the way!!!
LikeLike
Darn. All we have here is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles making a movie on the 33 (Kensington Expressway).
LikeLike
We were supposed to get Leonardo and gang here, I’m pretty sure, CM, but our Syracuse city movie division charged the company too much for the permit and they refused to pay and shipped west to your place instead.
LikeLike
We have better pizza.
LikeLike
I loved coasters and rides when I was young, now, not even a little bit! lol
I do love the food trucks tho! Yummy! 😀
LikeLike
I think I am in the mood for some fried dough, Joey, cinammon, no sugar. 🙂 No rides. Definitely, no rides.
LikeLike
Nope. I don’t do those kinds of rides anymore. 😀 😀 😀
LikeLike
Me, neither, LCTC. Younger days, I loved rollercoasters, the bigger the better. 🙂
LikeLike
My daughter talked me into a roller-coaster ride and that was enough—30 or so years ago. 😥
LikeLike
Can’t beat the Octopus, or Spider, or whatever they call it in your part of the world. An all time carnival classic.
LikeLike
Yeah, whatever the name, those swirling tentacles will shake you up, Gary! Thanks for pitching in here. 🙂 I feel queasy thinking about it. 😮
LikeLike