Carnival Crowds

I used to enjoy going to carnivals and fairs, but year after year of helping to plan and run the 50th State Fair, and doing the publicity and advertising for the Iolani School Carnival have a way of dampening one’s enthusiasm.

Y’know what I mean – been there, done that.

I could very easily go to the Punahou School carnival that’s going on as I write this, right down the street from me, no more than a 10-minute walk without the hassle of finding parking. But I’ve had enough of noise and jostling through the crowd.

This time of year is always something to grin and bear. Our residential street is lined with carnival-goers’ cars, and at times in the past, they’d encroach upon our driveways and make it difficult to leave and enter our garages.

Thankfully, the curbside most adjacent to our driveway has been officially designated a “no parking” zone for the benefit of the rubbish trucks, giving us and our neighbors a space to place our rubbish bins for the mechanized twice-weekly pickups. Carnival parking traffic relief is an unexpected benefit.

I’ve been coping with all of this for years now. I always come home early on Friday to beat the horrendous traffic in a five-mile radius of the school, do my grocery shopping early on Saturday and get back home before the Saturday night crowd arrives, and stay home on Saturday night.

One has to exhibit tolerance y’know. After all, the carnival is there for a good purpose. Bless the school and its kids.

My son Jim went today, and brought home some malasadas for the family. Bless his heart. What a guy.

Punahou Carnival Malasadas (Portuguese Doughnuts)