Another mainstay of carnival midways is the sideshow. The sideshow pictured above is from a carnival that was in Kentucky in 1940. It is advertising that for only 5 cents you can see the world's largest hog. My experience has been that the sideshows rarely lived up to the hype in the billboards and promises of the carnival "barkers".
The sideshow is the part of the carnival that my parents would never let us go in. I think they were afraid there really might be two-headed monsters that would scar their little darlings for life! Personally I wasn't keen on carnival rides for the most part, as I tended to get sick to my stomach on rides with too much, ahem, motion. I didn't like being scared, so roller coasters were out. I did like Ferris wheels, as seeing out over things was enjoyable. Trying to win the big teddy bear by throwing a softball at wooden milk bottles wasn't any fun, as I never won the bear. I always suspected that game, and others like it, was rigged. The smell of the popcorn was perhaps my favorite thing about the carnival!
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