Quebec’s travelling carnivals, a summer staple for generations, continue to captivate

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MONTREAL — Bright colourful rides, skill-testing games with a stuffed animal prize, and copious amounts of sticky cotton candy are all hallmarks of the travelling carnival circuit, and are deeply rooted in the imagination of Quebecers who’ve been able to experience them.

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The travelling midways, which temporarily set up shop in shopping centre parking lots or wherever else they can find space, have been part of the Quebec landscape for decades.

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The people who bring on the fun say they intend to be here for years to come.

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“We never end up in the red, business is going well,” says Veronique Vallee, co-owner of Beauce Carnaval, the oldest of two such companies.

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Some seasons — like this year with a cold and rainy April and May — are more difficult than others, she said.

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“We lost nine Saturdays at the beginning of the year,” she said. “That hurts.

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“But when people see that the weather will be nice on Friday or Sunday, they adjust.”

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She and her two brothers are the third generation to operate the ferris wheels of Beauce Carnaval, founded in 1953 by their grandfather, Florian.

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The company operates two units that travel each year from the Cote-Nord to Abitibi, Outaouais, Monteregie, Estrie, and the Lower St-Lawrence region — passing through their home base of the Beauce, south of Quebec City, and everywhere in between.

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The newer company, Fun Show, also has two units on the road, but does not venture as far. Still, it covers a vast territory that extends from the Laurentians to the Eastern Townships to the capital region, passing through Central Quebec.

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Founded 19 years ago, Fun Show is a financially demanding business, says Sylvie Lariviere, sister and right-hand woman to founder Mario Lariviere.

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“People have no idea about the costs of operation, repairs, maintenance and moving,” she said. “We are 100 per cent self-sufficient: we provide our own electricity with generators, and diesel is a fortune.”

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There are other expenses — renting a vast lot, paying employees, housing them and insurance. It requires a solid financial footing. The weather was a problem to begin the season, but the company has since recovered, she said.

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The company has only lost money in one year in its almost 20-year history.

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Mario Lariviere built Fun Show from the ground up, his sister said.

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“He bought a few used rides, an investor who was kind enough to help him financed him and he worked hard,” she said. “He was already good at mechanics and construction (and) the old rides were mechanical.

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“But today, there are a lot of electronics, and it’s not the mechanics that break anymore; it’s always the electronics.”

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Veronique Vallee and her two brothers essentially grew up at the fair.

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“When we finished school, we would come and spend our summers at the carnival,” Vallee said. “My two brothers and I all studied in other fields and all three of us returned to the family business.”