Extravaganza

When I was growing up, there was an annual festival at the Vichy Airport called Extravaganza.
It was run by George Carney and usually was held over a 4 day period in September. Many people set up stalls and sold arts and crafts and antiques and random stuff. There was tons of food and pagents and competitions and entertainment. There was a small town at the airport...had a blacksmith shop, jail, movie house, and the White House Hotel. The Hotel was a stage for a group of players who provided entertainment throughout the whole venue. They did western themed shows there, and also did gangster cops and robbers routines driving in old black period cars.

The troup was one big family - mother, grown up kids and their spouses and eventual children. I remember the stage shows, they always did a lip sync to "Baby Face" and one called the Buzz Saw to Ray Steven's "Along Came Jones".

My father took me every year and patiently watched the shows with me as many times as we could while there. That acting troup watched me grow up from a toddler to a 15 year old - and they always recognized my dad, the man with the beard. I have no idea who that family is or what they are doing these days, but they made a big impact on me growing up. If anyone knows who they are or if they have a website, I would love to know. I can't seem to find much info on the internet at all about the event, which is sad. I hope it gets archived and not forgotten.

I thought of this because my husband has been working in an amusement park show, "Spooktacular" for the past 12 years...doing the same type of work I loved watching so much as a child. This show has kids just like me who come every year to see it and enjoy the consistency. This type of structure is so important to show children how things can be the same and still change from year to year....a fun lesson in a performance show.