NICA....................................................................................................................50,51 OABA

Greg Chiecko, OABA President & CEO

Outdoor Amusement Business Association 1305 Memorial Avenue West Springfield, MA 01809 407-848-8010 gregc@oaba.org www.oaba.org

Greetings friends of the Florida Federation of Fairs from the Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA)

Thanks once again to Dan and the staff at FFF for allowing the OABA to share our thoughts with you.

It is hard to believe that the season is beginning to wind down and the IAAPA and IAFE conventions and trade shows are right around the corner. We will have a few weeks of down time before we start the state convention season. Before we know it, we will be back on the road for 2023.

One of the important parts of our strategic plan is to expand the membership of our fairs and events. The major reason for fairs to be part of our organization is to provide them with our communications in an effort to better understand our businesses and to broaden our partnerships. Members receive our weekly e-mail news, ShowTime Extra, every Thursday evening. This communication vehicle provides current updates of the weeks' activities in our industry. Also, our monthly print publication ShowTime provides more in-depth information about our fairs, carnivals, governmental relations and suppliers. Finally, our annual directory, Midway Marquee, is an outstanding resource and recaps the prior year's major accomplishments of the OABA.

The November issue of Showtime is being circulated to all IAFE fair members on a complimentary basis. Thanks to our guest writers who share their opinions about the OABA. Our hope is that we will attract new fair members after reviewing the quality of information we provide. Inaddition to the forementioned publications, a fair membership in the OABA shows your support to your carnival partners along with many other benefits. The cost of a 12-month membership to the OABA is -only $100. Potentials members can join our website at www.oaba.org or by calling the office at 407-848-4958. We sincerely hope you will join us!

We will be participating in both the IAAPA and IAFE trade shows. We will be highlighting our members that participate in these shows as well. We encourage you to stop by and say hello or engage in conversation that will enhance the services we provide to our members.

The IAFE and the OABA have formulated a joint committee to Update the Best Practices for Fairs & Carnivals that was last revised in 2008. While much of the document will remain unchanged and has stood the test of time, there are several aspects within our industry that present new challenges and exploration. The committee, chaired by Jim Sinclair, hopes to have a final document out in the Spring.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you in the upcoming weeks and certainly in the Spring for the FFF convention in Orlando. Stay safe.

We are digitizing the IAFE photo library and we don’t want the hard copies anymore. So, new for the IAFE Convention this year will be a table in the Ed Shed to sit and go through tons of old photos. Fair photos, IAFE meeting photos, and lots of head shots. This is just a SMALL sampling of what we will have for you to go through and TAKE HOME at Convention this year. Recognize anyone or anything?

Fair-a-Palooza Tailgate To Kick Off IAFE Convention Presented by

What better way to kick off the Convention than a fair? Not just any fair, but a fair for fair people! Join us Sunday evening as we get down at the Indiana State Fairgrounds for the Fair-A-Palooza Tailgate! Rides, food, entertainment and more will be included at this event especially for YOU! We know it’s hard to enjoy your own events when you are working. This time – we do the work, and you enjoy our labors. Transportation to and from the indoor fairgrounds will be provided by the IAFE via busses.

Fair A Palooza will take place on Sunday, November 27th, 7 pm – 9 pm. Fair-a-Palooza will be held indoors.

BY RICK NATHANSON / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

PUBLISHED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH, 2022 AT 9:02PM UPDATED: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2022 AT 12:02AM

Richard Dalton, left, and Star Child, dressed in stylized farmer attire, perform at the New Mexico State Fair on Friday as an onlooker sets off a hand-held bubble blowing toy. (Chancey Bush/Albuquerque Journal)

You can’t help but look up to Star Child and Richard Dalton, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that they walk tall.

The couple are performers in the Stilt Circus, roving through the crowds at the New Mexico State Fair, attracting attention from their perch atop three-foot stilts.

Now, that may not sound like much, but consider that the stilts give Star Child a perspective from just over 8-feet, 7-inches – more when she wears a large hat or headpiece; and Dalton stretches more than 9-feet, 3 inches into the air.

“The reason that we stick to the same size stilts is we do other things on stilts as well, including acrobatic tricks,” said Star. So having their feet at the same distance from the ground makes it easier for them and any ground performers with whom they may work.

The Stilt Circus also gets attention for its costuming, “most of which are made and designed by Richard and myself,” said Star. “One of the things that we’re known for in the industry is providing a different costume every day of a fair, so you’ll never see the same thing from us.”

Star said many of the costumes are made from upholstery material, which is very thick and durable.

Star Child has been performing on stilts for 23 years. In 2006 she established the Stilt Circus, which is known for its costuming. She now manages a network of 64 performers around the country. (Chancey Bush/Albuquerque Journal)

On Friday, they were adorned in colorful farmer themed attire, which had more of a Carmen Miranda feel than an “American Gothic” vibe. No matter, their presence along Main Street could not be missed as smiling fairgoers stared and smiled, while the couple posed for photo ops, danced, told farmer jokes and handed out gimmick doughnut seed packs.

Star was working in the music industry back in the 1990s when a circus troupe asked her to manage them. “I thought all I was going to do is manage, but then they asked me to perform,” she said. “I told them no, I’m not a performer, but they dragged me out and the next thing I know I’m performing.”

She wasn’t sold on the idea until some months later when the troupe attended the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. “One of the performers had an extra pair of stilts that wasn’t being used and they asked me to go out with them. My heart was stolen at that point, because I fell in love with it.”

After a short while, stilts became like an extension of her own legs. “Anything you do on the ground you can do on stilts, so it’s really fun.”

She’s been performing on stilts now for 23 years. In 2006 she started the Stilt Circus network and currently manages 64 stilt performers around the country and personally trained 35 of them to walk and perform on stilts.

Dalton said he met Star Child after he began going to festivals and exploring lifestyles that presented something other than the typical 9-to-5 working environment.

“I’m at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire near San Bernardino, California – you know, turkey leg, meat and beer,” recalled Dalton. “I come around a corner and I see her on stilts, and I’m like, ‘wow, you’re the tallest girl I’ve ever seen.’ I knew she was on stilts, but it was just so magical and different and I had never really seen that. It was my first exposure.”

According to Star, “I told him, if he wanted to date me, he had to get up to my height, that this was my jam and this is what I do and if you wanted to be with me this is what he has to do.”

Stilt Circus performer Richard Dalton reaches down to bump fists with 3-year-old Isaac and his dad, Justin Blystone, while walking along Main Street at the New Mexico State Fair on Friday. (Chancey Bush/Albuquerque Journal)

Dalton rose to the occasion, so to speak.

Now, real life partners of 13 years, they recently moved their home base from California to Florida, but they are on the road 6-9 months out of the year and have a summer schedule of about 15 state fairs and a number of other events.

“And it’s all driving,” said Dalton. “So we’re very familiar with America. Literally, America is our home.”

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