Friday, June 19, 2020

1970 Vermilion Festival of the Fish: Nolan Shows Carnival

Here’s a nice full-page ad for the Nolan Shows carnival featured at the 1970 Vermilion Festival of the Fish, which ran June 19 through the 21st – 50 years ago. The ad ran in the Vermilion Photojournal on June 11, 1970.

The carnival, set up at the shopping center, had a two-day jump on the festival itself.

I like posting ads for carnivals and circuses. Their old employees often go online to locate co-workers and reminisce about the owners and performers. I’ve written about the Cristiani-Wallace Circus, the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus, and the Paul A. Miller Circus (that our friend Bill Nahm remembers so well).

As the ad notes, Nolan Shows operated out of Zanesville with two units traveling independently of each other.

And here’s a great profile of the man behind Nolan Shows: Fred A. Nolan. The article appeared in the Zanesville Times-Recorder on Sunday, August 21, 1966, and sheds some light on the life of a "carny.”

Next: More 1970 Vermilion Festival of the Fish Fun

1 comment:

Lisa said...

Interesting article. The line that jumped out at me was that Nolan has four children and wants them to become "carnies." Never read about a father actually wanting all of his kids to become a carnival worker . . . even if the father himself was one. It struck me as odd, but the article was entertaining to me.