Why Did Wilmington's Carnival Close Before the Fourth?
Fourth of July Committee chairman Scott Garrant provides the answer to the question on several readers' minds.
Readers want to know why the carnival shipped out of town and was not open on the Fourth of July. Scott Garrant provided the answer.
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Summertime means five days of Fourth of July fun for Wilmington residents, but the festivities are normally wrapped up with little action happening on Independence Day itself.
And with this year's Fourth festivities finished, several readers asked the question about why the town's carnival packed up and left town a day before the actual Fourth of July holiday.
Wilmington Fourth of July Committee chairman Scott Garrant provided the answer.
"The carnival was not open on July 4th as the Fun on Fourth Celebration ended on the morning of the 4th," said Garrant. "Had the July 3 fireworks display been postponed to July 4th, the carnival would have remained. Historically, July 4th is not a busy day for the carnival since many families host or attend cookouts or other gatherings."
Garrant said there is another factor as well. Recently enacted state laws require carnivals to be inspected every time they set up in a location.
"In order to account for this requirement, carnivals now try to be fully set-up the day before they open to the public," said Garrant. "Moving on to the next location sooner rather than later allows for the carnival to set up and schedule inspections."
Kevin MacDonald
3:06 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Lame reason! If the State wanted to get the economy fixed then they would have these issues addressed.
Judy O'Connell
4:36 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Great job to you Scott and your committee as well as the town employees and many volunteers! Another fabulous year on the Wilmington Common for the 4th. The fireworks were among the best I have seen. I, like many, appreciate all that you do! I hope you enjoyed the 4th with your family and friends. Well deserved!
Laurie Briere
8:27 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012
My family and I appreciate all that the 4th of July committee does to prepare and during the festivities. You help make so many family memories and so much fun!
Melissa
6:25 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Maybe we could also see it from the employees and volunteers of the carnivals perspective and they had the day off to spend with their own families. The reasons stated here are exactly why I would not have been there on he actual 4th. The carnival for 5 days plus the fireworks were excellent as usual. Nobody missed the carnival not there on the actual 4th....hope everyone enjoyed the day instead of saying it was LAME that it wasn't there. I made plenty of time to go there on the days it was open.....I am sure everyone else did as well.
Gloria
8:16 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Thank you so much to the committee, all of the workers and volunteers! My family had an amazing time at all of the festivities! We appreciate all of your hard work and had plenty of fun and family time. When we visited the Town Common this past week it made us proud to be part of such a wonderful, caring, "family" we have here in Wilmington. THANK YOU!