EWORKS PRO LIGHTS CHANGE THE WHOLE LOOK OF THE MIDWAY MyM decision to buy an EWorks Pro light “ ppackagea for my Chance Century Wheel wwas based first on the testimonials of other show owners. Lars Koch came out personally and helped us install the lights in two working days. They require the least amount of maintenance of any light I have ever used, and they look fabulous. I was so pleased with my Century Wheel that I bought a whole new system for my ARM Rockstar. LED lights are one of the best things that has ever happened to the mobile amusement industry, and the EWorks Pro lights have changed the whole look of the midway.” 3939 ForsythForsyth Road, Winter Park, FL 327932792 USA Danny Ottaway 407-332-0151 | www.eworkspro.comwww.eworkspro.co Ottaway Amusement Company MADE IN THE USA CONTENTS #MIDWAYMAG FEATURES THE MAN IN THE MIRROR 08 Dreamland Amusements 20 YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS 23 KMG SPEEDS TOWARD GIBTOWN 33 IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SMILES 38 THE BACKSPIN 48 ON A FINAL NOTE Freedom from Fear ON THE COVER: Deggeller Attractions’ KMG Hydra at the 2017 Salem Fair in Salem, Virginia. Photo by Terry Aldhizer. Publisher Writers Photographers Photographers Design Consultant © 2018 by Midway Magazine. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including Midway Marketing Kevin Freese Buddy Barlow Terry Aldhizer Kistin Jordan photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior Drew Tewksbury Kevin Cantor written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in Editor Stefan Hinz Layout & Design critical reviews and certain reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted Kyler Smith Mark Hunter by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed, Attention: Sharon Barlow Daniel Olwert MIDWAY MAGAZINE Timothy S. Allen William Wilson Permissions Coordinator, at the address below. Printing Photography Business Manager Chris Emory Social Media FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, Midway Magazine TRADE SHOW Progress Printing Buddy Barlow Jeff Smallwood Director ADDRESS CHANGES, P.O. Box 1165 ISSUE 2019 Kannapolis, NC 28082 Web Design Venetia Alex Barlow & CUSTOMER SERVICE 704-925-1325 Midway Marketing Scooter Korek midwaymagazineusa.com mailto:[email protected] MIDWAY MOMENT WELCOME BACK TO MIDWAY! I am thrilled to once again welcome you to MIDWAY Magazine, the publication where rides, fairs, festivals, foods, and games, converge to create fun! You, our readers, are our most honored guests because you are more than Sharon Barlow our readers, you are also our stories. You entertain. You inform and educate. You encourage. You make us smile. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share your stories every month. When we launched MIDWAY Magazine six months ago, I’m sure there were probably some of you who thought we were living in a dreamland. I take great encouragement from many of you who were perhaps also accused of living in a dreamland when you launched your businesses. Two people I have developed an immense admiration for, Bob and Kathy DeStefano, even named their carnival Dreamland Amusements. Would you laugh if I told you when I first met Bob, I was more than a little intimidated by him? Seriously, for a girl who has spent her entire life south of the Mason-Dixon line, I wasn’t sure what to expect. After spending time with him and Kathy at the Columbus County Fair, I realized Bob is a man deeply committed to his family, his carnival, and his industry. He doesn’t look to others to initiate change. He looks to the man in the mirror. As we all turn our attention to the 2019 IISF Tradeshow, I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be part of an industry like none other. I personally cannot wait to see what is new and exciting for the upcoming year. I already know KMG and Majestic Manufacturing have some very exciting things to share, and I can assure you that if you continue to return to MIDWAY over the coming months you will discover many new things from our industry manufacturers. I have a question for all of you. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Drew Tewksbury thinks that you can, and he wants to do all he can to assist you with training or retraining your staff to help you provide the safest, most inviting midway you can. Finally, many of you know that this letter is my favorite part of MIDWAY Magazine. I struggle sometimes, however, to share with you something that has value, something that in some way will enlighten you or perhaps lighten your load especially as you prepare to kick off 2019 in earnest. This month, I realized that I don’t have to. Please take a moment to turn to page 48, read On a Final Note, and be encouraged. Enjoy this issue of MIDWAY Magazine! TRADE SHOW ISSUE 2019 | MIDWAY MAGAZINE | 7 I'm starting with the man in the mirror I'm asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you want to make the world a better place Take a look at yourself, and then make a change Photo by Kevin Cantor By Sharon Barlow In January 1988, Michael Jackson released their successful carnival up and down the East the fourth single from his solo album, Bad. Coast and endeavor to instigate change for the Debuting at number one, Man in the Mirror improvement of an industry they love. became Michael’s anthem. Ironically, it was one of only two songs on the album that Many years before Bob could make an impact Michael did not write. The on the amusement song’s co-writer Siedah industry, the industry Garrett felt that Michael made an impact on him. recognized that, "The song “I was 16, and I needed was deeper than just the a job” he recalls. “The visual of a man looking carnival was a mile and at himself in the mirror. It a half from my house was that, juxtaposed with in Levittown on Long the idea of a man going Island. I went to look for deeper inside himself to a job. I got hired. I told change from within. To my dad that the carnival make a difference on the was coming back to the outside, you have to first other side of town, and start from within.” The mobile amusement I was going to look to travel with the carnival. industry includes many such men who have Being a supervisor for the Nassau County recognized that they have the means within Probation Department, he didn’t think that themselves to make a difference in the world was such a good idea. I got a lesson on who by bringing joy to the millions of people who appeared in front of him day in and day out enter their midway every year. Similarly, Bob and what happens to guys like me, blah, blah, DeStefano, owner of Dreamland Amusements, blah.” has adopted Man in the Mirror as something of his anthem as he and his wife, Kathy, navigate “I was helping on a Watkins Swing,” Bob continues. “I was just the local green kid, buckling people in, taking tickets, or whatever. One day, these two girls want to go on the ride. When I went to buckle one of them in, she said, ‘No, I can do it myself.’ I was working with a guy they called Swinger Bob, so I asked Swinger Bob, ‘Hey, who is that?’ He said, ‘Listen, whatever you do, don’t mess with her. She’s the boss’s daughter.’ I said, ‘No kidding.’” “My parents, Charlie and Norma Wagner, owned a small show called Carnival Amusements,” Kathy adds. “When we came to Levittown, Bobby wanted a job for the week. A month later when we came back to a different section, he worked again. By September he actually asked me out.” In 1984, Bob and Kathy DeStefano were married, but in addition to the impact Carnival Amusements made on his personal life, Bob is grateful for the impact it made on him professionally. “The show played just on Long Island and in the Hamptons for a few weeks from mid-April until the week after Labor Day. I remember there was an Italian Fest that called Charlie for the week following that. You would have thought the world was coming to an end that he might have to go out another week after the week after Labor Day,” Bob laughs. He continues, “Besides themselves, one of the things I am very grateful for by being with them was that Charlie had concessions in Danbury, Connecticut, the Great Danbury State Fair. After Labor Day when he put the show away, he would get some game trailers ready, and in early October, we would go to Danbury. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to ever play that fair. It was amazing.” The same year Bob and Kathy were married, Charlie and Norma sold Carnival Amusements. Once again, Bob was ready to make a change. “We had to decide what we wanted to do,” Kathy shares. “So, we took some of our wedding money and put a down payment on a Wisdom roller coaster, a small one. We partnered with another couple, and we just started getting jobs and buying equipment. From scratch, we just grew into Silver Dollar Shows.” For 18 years, Bob and Kathy helped navigate Silver Dollar Shows throughout the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.