THE SALEM CARNIVAL
BY: NATALIE
October is a fun and exciting time in Salem. There are numerous events planned for the entire month relating to Halloween, ranging from motorcycle rides to outdoor movies on the Salem Common, to ghost tours and carnivals. This past Saturday, October 17th, my friends and I decided to walk downtown. It was about a 1.4 mile walk to the carnival from Central Campus. It was a fairly cold day, so we all wore our winter coats, scarves, and gloves. We were headed downtown to walk around and sightsee, but as we walked past Wendy’s on our walk down we saw the carnival in the distance and decided we should go! We made our way onto the grounds and decided to get in line to do some rides. When we got up to the ticket booth, we realized it was a little more expensive than we originally thought it was going to be, so we all agreed to do one ride. We chose to ride the Flying Bobs. The ride cost only four tickets, but that amounted to be six dollars, which seemed very expensive for just one carnival ride. We decided to pay for it anyway and waited in line for our ride.
After waiting in line for approximately five minutes, we boarded our individual carts. Chris and Sarah sat together and Laura and I sat together in the same cart. Our friend Lexxy decided she was going to wait for us and take pictures of us on the ride. As we made our way around the circle to our cart, we realized we were right on the water! I thought this was a great location for the carnival because as we went around in circles on the ride, we could see the water. As Laura and I were being strapped in to our seats, we noticed a Husky dog was tied up to a post between the ride and the water. We were both very concerned for the dog because he was really skinny considering its breed and the owner seemed to be pretty rough on him. This made us sad, but regardless, we had fun. After waiting around in our carts, the ride finally began. The carts move up and down little hills in a circle. The longer the ride goes on, the faster and faster the ride goes. It certainly wasn’t a smooth ride at all. After going forward for about 2 minutes, the ride stopped and started to slowly move backwards. It began to move faster and faster. I usually love amusement park rides, but I didn’t like this ride because it made me dizzy, it was a rough ride, and it seemed to be really old and creaky. I was glad once the ride was over! Overall, our trip downtown was a success. Following the carnival, we walked to the Harry Potter store and then went to get lunch at the Howling Wolf. I think it is great that the town of Salem organizes events relating to Halloween because it get us college students off campus and involved in the community. |