{"id":44660,"date":"2025-08-04T13:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/44660\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T13:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:36:08","slug":"quebecs-summer-travelling-carnivals-intend-to-stick-around-season-staple-for-generations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/44660\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec\u2019s summer travelling carnivals intend to stick around, season staple for generations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Fun Show is a newer company that is nearly 20 years old and covers a vast territory that extends from the Laurentians to the Eastern Townships to the capital region.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Bright colourful rides, skill-testing games with a stuffed animal prize, and copious amounts of sticky cotton candy are all hallmarks of the travelling carnival circuit, and are deeply rooted in the imagination of Quebeckers who\u2019ve been able to experience them.<\/p>\n

The travelling midways, which temporarily set up shop in shopping centre parking lots or wherever else they can find space, have been part of the Quebec landscape for decades.<\/p>\n

The people who bring on the fun say they intend to be here for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never end up in the red, business is going well,\u201d says V\u00e9ronique Vall\u00e9e, co-owner of Beauce Carnaval, the oldest of two such companies.<\/p>\n

Some seasons \u2013 like this year with a cold and rainy April and May \u2013 are more difficult than others, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost nine Saturdays at the beginning of the year,\u201d she said. \u201cThat hurts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when people see that the weather will be nice on Friday or Sunday, they adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

She and her two brothers are the third generation to operate the ferris wheels of Beauce Carnaval, founded in 1953 by their grandfather, Florian.<\/p>\n

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Sylvie Larivi\u00e8re, sister of Fun Show founder Mario Larivi\u00e8re says the business is financially demanding and in its nearly 20 years of running, they’ve lost money in only one year.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The company operates two units that travel each year from the C\u00f4te-Nord to Abitibi, Outaouais, Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie, Estrie, and the Lower St-Lawrence region \u2013 passing through their home base of the Beauce, south of Quebec City, and everywhere in between.<\/p>\n

The newer company, Fun Show, also has two units on the road, but does not venture as far. Still, it covers a vast territory that extends from the Laurentians to the Eastern Townships to the capital region, passing through Central Quebec.<\/p>\n

Founded 19 years ago, Fun Show is a financially demanding business, says Sylvie Larivi\u00e8re, sister and right-hand woman to founder Mario Larivi\u00e8re. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have no idea about the costs of operation, repairs, maintenance and moving,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are 100 per cent self-sufficient: we provide our own electricity with generators, and diesel is a fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are other expenses \u2013 renting a vast lot, paying employees, housing them and insurance. It requires a solid financial footing. The weather was a problem to begin the season, but the company has since recovered, she said.<\/p>\n

The company has only lost money in one year in its almost 20-year history.<\/p>\n

Mario Larivi\u00e8re built Fun Show from the ground up, his sister said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe bought a few used rides, an investor who was kind enough to help him financed him and he worked hard,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was already good at mechanics and construction (and) the old rides were mechanical.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut today, there are a lot of electronics, and it\u2019s not the mechanics that break anymore; it\u2019s always the electronics.\u201d<\/p>\n

V\u00e9ronique Vall\u00e9e and her two brothers essentially grew up at the fair.<\/p>\n

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Workers say they are passionate about carnival living. In particular, all point to the excited, happy faces of youth getting to partake as a major plus.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we finished school, we would come and spend our summers at the carnival,\u201d Vall\u00e9e said. \u201cMy two brothers and I all studied in other fields and all three of us returned to the family business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Fun Show and Beauce Carnaval employ around 100 people, a figure that can increase, as can the number of rides at major agricultural fairs if customer activity becomes more intense.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough but rewarding job, Vall\u00e9e said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to recruit because people are on the road for six months. They don\u2019t see their families, they don\u2019t stay at home, they don\u2019t have Saturdays and Sundays off to go to the beach,\u201d Vall\u00e9e said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what characterizes this job: to go away, to be a vagabond for six months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2018, Beauce Carnaval has employed 34 seasonal workers from Mexico who\u2019ve helped recruit each other over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a great mutual support between them. It\u2019s really a great team and when they\u2019re here, they spread that to others,\u201d Vall\u00e9e said.<\/p>\n

On the Fun Show side, unit manager Ren\u00e9 Caron said recruiting isn\u2019t too hard as veterans return year after year and bring their friends with them.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Fun Show and Beauce Carnaval employ around 100 people, a figure that can increase based on intensified customer activity.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

What attracts them, he said, is the feeling of having found a family. <\/p>\n

\u201cMany don\u2019t have a family, many don\u2019t have a fixed home. So they come here for the summer and the family atmosphere,\u201d Caron said. \u201cThey leave in the fall, but sometimes they go and live together in pairs or threes. They come here to build bonds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Workers say they are passionate about carnival living. In particular, all point to the excited, happy faces of youth getting to partake as a major plus.<\/p>\n

Robert Gobeil and Sylvain Roy met at the Beauce Carnaval site in Victoriaville, Que. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe love everything in general,\u201d said Gobeil about his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to entertain people, what\u2019s better than entertaining people? I chose this job because we wanted to be able to work all summer and be down south in the winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gobeil heads south in his motorhome in October and returns in April. He briefly retired after the COVID-19 pandemic, but was drawn back to carnival life.<\/p>\n

Sylvain Roy, on the other hand, loves winter and snowmobiling during the off-season. He, too, left the showman\u2019s life in 2009, but soon came back. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s in your blood, you come back,\u201d Roy said. \u201cI love it: Beauce Carnival is a family. We\u2019re a family at home, but when we\u2019re here, we have a family here too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Fun Show is a newer company that is nearly 20 years old and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-44660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}