When the rides power on and take the first customers of the day, when the first carnival games are played and the first prizes awarded, it will be because of Midway Carnival Attractions.

The Park County Fair’s carnival provider for the last decade was started in California in 1996 by Tony Guadagno and came to the Park County Fair in 2015, said Shawnee Merten of Midway Carnival Attractions. 

Both Guadagno’s and Merten’s families have a long history in the carnival business.  Guadagno is the third generation of his family to work in carnivals and Merten’s father started a company in the late 1940s which Shawnee Merten and his brothers took over and ran until 2004 when they sold the business.

Now, Merten works as an independent contractor with an investment in Midway.

Until roughly 2014, the carnival would “play” 35-40 events in California, Merten said, but as it grew bigger spots were needed and California is heavily regulated and expensive to put on carnivals. Guadagno met Riverton’s fair manager at the time and the manager suggested Midway Carnival branch out into the state where fairs were struggling to find carnivals.

The costs of running any business, including carnivals has risen, Merten said, and it can be difficult to find employees. It’s not an easy life, it involves long hours, travel and living in bunkhouses, he added, and owners and managers often live in an RV.

But you never know who might fall in love with the business, he said. In the 1960s Merten’s family had someone working for them who turned out to be one of Idaho’s richest potato farmers.

“So you never know who’s tearing your tickets,” Merten said.

The carnival now plays roughly the same number of total events it used to in California, but throughout Wyoming, Utah, California, Montana and Nevada where it pulls from its 18-25 rides, the number available depending on labor costs and gross revenue.

“We try to service our fairs by bringing a good mix of family rides,” Merten said. “Those would be rides like ferris wheels, fun houses, things that anybody can ride.”

They also bring thrill rides, mosty used by teenagers and young adults, “but that doesn’t mean that grandpa can’t ride the roller coaster if he so chooses, or the Tilt-A-Whirl, Merten laughed.

Midway is also particular about its game operations. 

“We want to make sure that we’re giving good prizes … I’ don’t know what [the public thinks] now, I know there used to be kind of a negative connotation of carnival people years ago. Maybe back in the 40s and 50s some of that was earned, but the game operation is nothing more than retail sales in like a Walmart,” Merten said.

The operator will pay the carnival rent and labor costs like a booth operator would in a store. The carnival wants the games designed so one in every four people wins a prize and there’s a lot of games that “build up,” meaning players who win a smaller prize can trade up.

“But our whole idea is to present a family fun, entertainment experience where there’s something to do for everybody,” Merten said. 

They want to be able to provide the rides, food and games as well as an environment where the employees are in uniform, trained and polite to the public and the rides are clean and safe — something fairgoers will come back to “tomorrow or the next day.”

This year, Midway will be bringing rides like the Zipper (a spinning column with moving seat compartments), the Oh Chute (a 70-foot tower that takes the audience in the air for 360-degree turns), Pharaoh’s Fury (the swinging boat ride) and kids’ rides among others. 

Merten said the popularity of the rides varies, but many of the kids fall into a particular category, “I think anything that makes you dizzy or want to throw up kids like.”

As fairgoers prepare, the best deal is the presale wristband which will become unavailable at 5 p.m. For $30 and the transaction fee riders get unlimited rides, which is a good deal for a teenager who may spend $30-$40 on tickets when the rides take four-to-seven tickets each. Once the fair is in full swing the bands will be $40.

Patrons will also once again be able to purchase reloadable wristbands where credits can be bought as needed.

“If you keep that wristband and bring it back to any kiosk, you can reload it with no transaction fee. If you take that wristband home and bring it back the next day and there’s credit on it, you can use those credits,” Merten said. “If there are no credits on it, you can reload it, but it still has to be attached to your wrist.”

People are watching their budgets and can save a $3 transaction fee if they use the same wristband, Merten said.

Buy tickets at carnivalmidwayattractions.magicmoneyllc.com/MagicMoney_Web/ETicket/EventDetails/55.