Blog Directory ID: 1466
Blog URL: http://www.funfairgames.net/weblog
Google Pagerank: 3
Blog Description: The trials and tribulations of running a funfair and corporate entertainments company in the 21st century, aided by my two partners aka Laurel and Hardy.
Blog Category: Entertainment Blogs
Blog Owner: Jason Moody
Blog Added: January 18, 2008 01:40:14 PM
Audience Rating: General Audience
Blog Country: 
United States Number Hits: 6 |  Blog Rating: 0.00 |  Rate Blog: Submit rating |  Review Blog |
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New Events In The North East And Lancashire
I haven't updated this blog much lately, simply becasuse I have been too busy. We have been down to London regularly, over to Lancashire and around Yorkshire quite a bit, added to this I have been designing a new hot roast chestnut cart which has the addition of a special drop down panel to take 2 electric warmers fot mulled wine. This will allow us to keep up with the demand for these two products without having to transport and assemble two seperate carts, which will ease the situation as we are recieving an awful lot of work for these two particular products..
Anyway I can now announce that we have just signed the final contract with Stockton Borough Council to provide Traditional funfair attractions to Stockton town centre in support of their new four day Christmas market, click here for more details
This follows on from a number of events that we have worked on with Stockton over the last eighteen months. Additionally we can also announce that we have two smaller, but equally welcome events in the Northumberland town of Hexham and the Lancashire town of Leyland . Overall our strategy of adding Christmas town centre events to our portfolio is gathering pace nicely. I am off to a meeting tomorrow morning to discuss another new Christmas event in the North East so hopefully I can deliver some more news on new events before the winter season ends.
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Flexibility at Goodwood
After adapting our sidestalls for promotional use, we are continued to be surprised by their flexibility. A recent pre bonfire event requiring a combined chestnut, candy floss and popcorn stall, but with limited space saw us using the front counter set up we had designed for the Croydon Food Festival to produce a compact stall with all 3 items. The next night we were down the country at Goodwood House for a corporate event. We had been asked to provide a chestnut stall, along with a selection of pick and mix nougat, brandy snap, toffee apples, peanut brittle and cinder toffee. One of our stalls proved ideal once again as the back counter system made a perfect area for preparing everything whilst the new front counter had plenty of room to display everything along with one of our mini chestnut ovens.
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promotional stalls for hire
Promotional Stalls For Hire
Whilst we were still heavily involved with the traditional fairground industry, the current thinking in sidestall design was to produce a stall optomised for a specific game. As a result there tended to be shooting galleries, basketball stalls etc that only ever operated as shooting galleries and basketball stalls. When we made the move into corporate entertainment we re thought this strategy, and instead designed a range of general purpose units that could be quickly and easily operated as different units. This had two benefits for us, it allowed us to offer a greater range of games and catering units without the tremendous expense of building and maintaining a wide number of specialist stalls. Also it allowed us to keep a common look and feel across the range of stalls, which definitely looks better at more upmarket corporate jobs. Our range of mini Victorian style side stalls have been one of our biggest successes. With only a few additional components we offer a range of around 20 different games. Similarly our catering carts are available as popcorn, candy floss, espresso coffee, ice cream, mulled wine, soup, hot dogs and more, all based on a standard cart body with an interchangable counter system. We recently discovered a new opening for these units when a major shopping centre in the London area contacted us to ask if we could supply stalls and carts for some of their retailers to use at a promotional event. We looked into the associated costs and work required and discovered that all our carts needed was a new solid counter (minus the holes cut out for candy floss machines etc), and our side stall units needed 3 extra pieces and a new counter to make them ideal for this sort of work. On the day, not only was the promotions company that had hired us extremely pleased, but the shopping centre management told us they were very impressed. We are now adding the extra frames to all of our units to enable any of them to be used as promotional stalls. We supply the stalls complete with a range of different counter and shelving systems, tube lighting, decorative coloured lights across the front and a full range of electrical connections allowing the installation of catering and display equipment. Coupled with our custom printed front panels these make a cheap and very effective basis for shopping centre promotions etc. Further details are available in our downloadable brochure Click Here
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Staging A Victorian Funfair
One of the most popular forms of fairground entertainment, is the old fashioned Victorian style fair, or "Fayre" as it is sometimes spelt. Perhaps its a feeling of nostalgia for when Pax Britannica was at its height, or people could just be looking for something different from the loud music and flashing lights of the modern funfair. Whatever the reason for wanting a Victorian Funfair, there are a couple of immediate problems the event organisers comes up against when specifying traditional attractions.
To begin with there are very few actual Victorian era attractions still operating. Most have been replaced with modern equivalents, some have rotted away or been broken up for scrap, and some just can't meet modern health and safety requirements. Also the world is a vastly different place to what it was a hundred odd years ago. A popular game on the fairground was "Shoot The Rat", with real live rats as the targets, imagine trying to get that one past the animal rights people in the name of authenticity. Many of the treats people associate with fairgrounds, such as candy floss, weren't invented until after Queen Victoria shuffled off this mortal coil, so sticking to strictly authentic Victorian items limits your choice somewhat.
So does that mean that it isn't possible to present a Victorian funfair? If you want only genuine Victorian then probably not, however there is a flourishing section of the fairground industry that have available a wide range of "Victorian Style," equipment. This takes various forms, with larger items like the Carousel being a pretty good replica of the original rides, albeit constructed using modern methods and materials. Things like candy floss and mulled wine can be dispensed from vintage style hand carts, and games units are decorated with the traditional scrolled paintwork of a bygone era. Some of the better operators are quite happy to supply members of staff in period costume, and the overall effect can be quite realistic.
With the application of modern technology, these retro style fairs can easily meet modern health and safety requirements, so its possible to provide an old style fair, with all of the modern advantages of safety and reliability. However that’s no cause for complacency, the same vetting procedure should still be used when booking an fair, safety documents such as risk assessments and insurances should still be provided well before the event. If you chosen operator cannot supply part of the documentation, or tries to delay passing it you, then find someone else. In today’s no win no fee culture you cannot afford to take chances.
With a little common sense, and some compromise you can add a realistic period fair to enhance your event be it a corporate fun day or something like a winter Christmas market.
Hire A Victorian Funfair Here
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Mulled Wine Carts For Hire
One of our most popular lines is our range of Victorian style catering carts. To date we have a range of carts with candy floss, popcorn, hot dogs, espress coffee, tea and hot chocolate, crepes and French pancakes available. We have just expanded this range with the addition of roast chestnuts and mulled wind. In fairness we have been supplying chestnut carts for a couple of year, but we have just adapted our range of flexible carts to offer chestnuts rather than having to bring a specialised cart in for the event. This is paying dividends already with us in negotiation with a major shopping centre to provide them with chestnut carts for a range of events. The mulled wine cart is a new venture, added with the intention of capturing some more of the Christmas party market by offering something a little more upmarket. Details of our mulled wine carts can be found here.....
We will shortly have an announcement to make with regards to some new Christmas fairs we have been asked to provide attractions to. One of these will be a major event, with the others being on a slightly smaller scale, but still an important part of our ongoing strategy to provide quality funfairs in a number of city centre venues.
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Radio Ga Ga
At the moment we are at the great Nottingham Goose Fair, supposedly one of this countries premier fairground events. In truth over the last few years it has become a shadow of its former self, with many of the smaller 'private' funfairs up and down the country providing a much better return on investment. Whilst stood at the front of our helter skelter I was approached by a young lady from Nottingham radio asking if I would be prepared to be interviewed live by Radio Nottingham. "That's not a problem!", I replied, and the interviewer (sadly not the aforementioned young lady), and I ascended the helter skelter to take advantage of the increased signal strength received from being 40 ft in the air.
The interview opened with the statement that a lot of local people feel the prices charged on the rides at Nottingham are expensive. Now they have a valid point here, however I explained that this particular fair is probably the most expensive in the country for an operator to attend. It's not just the rental for the space, but the charge for having a car present at the fair, plus towing vehicles, living accomodation etc. I think our next most expensive event costs us something like 20 percent of what Nottingham levy. The interviewer was quite reasonable with his questions and I think I put our point of view across fairly well. I am one of those people who believe that we are moving away from our roots with the prices we are charging, but at places like Nottingham we have very litle room to cut things without the council helping us out by lowering some of our expenses.
I am now just about to set off back to Nottingham to dismantle the helter skelter, its pouring it down with rain, is freezing cold and generally all round miserable. At times like this I wish Arthur wasn't afraid of heights and I could send him.
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