A friend and I were driving back from Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois when we spotted a little mechanized carnival in the small town of Stone Fort. I first heard the term mechanized carnival when I asked why the local 4-H fair no longer had typical rides such as ferris wheels and the like, featuring instead mostly blow up stuff like jumping castles. The answer was that mechanized carnivals wanted too steep a guarantee to come to the backwaters of southern Indiana. I guess the even more rural backwaters of southern Illinois were somehow more lucrative.
Note to self: if you write a 3 paragraph response don’t go back to the post to confirm some item. Your comments will disappear.