The St. Davids Lions Club has pulled off its family carnival for a 63rd straight year, and club president Marty Byl says he could not be happier with the number of people who came out to the village fairgrounds.
The four-day carnival, which wrapped up Saturday, July 25, is held every summer outside the Lions Clubs’s main location on York Road. Entry is free and the money raised at its games and food booths goes back into the club’s community projects across Niagara-on-the-Lake.
“That was a fantastic, fantastic turnout this year,” said Byl. “Really pleased. Love to serve the public.”
The carnival ended with the draw for its $10,000 main prize, which went to Rick Beaupre. Pete Flynn took the second-place prize, a Niagara adventure package. MPP Wayne Gates made the draw alongside main prize chairman Bill Brouwer and Byl.
The club made its biggest change this year to the live music, replacing its usual rotation of small acts with a handful of larger bands, Byl said.
Barby Collins, who joined the Lions Club and took charge of the entire music area, performed with her band on Friday night after special guest Dan Diggins opened the evening. A band called Madmen played the closing night on Saturday.
The midway games came back in stronger shape as well, said Byl, because the amusement company reinvested in its rides during what he understands to be a handover of the business from a father to his daughter.
The club also moved its dog show to a new time slot and set up an extra tent to give visitors relief from the sun. Its Lions burger booth, a staple of the event, returned as well.
“We just try to keep tweaking [the carnival],” said Byl.
Finding enough volunteers remains one of the hardest parts of putting on the carnival each year, he said, but this summer several residents approached Lions members in the middle of the event and asked how they could help.
“We’ve had people walk up to us and just say, ‘Can I help?’ It’s been amazing,” said Byl.
The club counted about 100 members and roughly 250 volunteers at last year’s carnival, longtime organizer Al Snider said, with some helping for an hour and others working the entire weekend.
Snider also said the club makes no money on the midway rides and keeps its own prices the same every year, even as the amusement companies raise theirs, so that families can still afford a night out.
Byl believes people keep returning after six decades because the carnival gives them a rare chance to spend time together in person.
“We live in a world that doesn’t have social activities so much as they have social media,” he said. “This is an opportunity to bump into your neighbour, shake their hand, sit down at a picnic table, meet them again.”
The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is making the carnival a little more difficult to operate every year, Byl said, and one of the permits the club needed this summer doubled in price.
He believes most of those obstacles are unintended, and the club plans to work with the town over the coming months to sort them out before the carnival returns for its 64th year next summer.
