Big Glen Burnie Carnival rolls out for century

The Baltimore Sun

Charles Kreider began working at the Big Glen Burnie Carnival with his father when he was 3 years old, sitting on a bushel basket and picking up balls at their family's milk-bottle stand.

From Kreider's grandfather, who went to the first Glen Burnie Carnival in 1908, to Kreider's 7-year-old grandson, five generations of the family have volunteered at the event.

"Ever since the carnival was conceived, we've had a person as chairman of a stand," Kreider said. "It's just been a part of life. As long as I can remember, it's what you do when carnival time comes."

The annual carnival, which opens tonight in the heart of Glen Burnie, will honor the families who have made it happen year after year with a ribbon cutting, confetti and old-fashioned music tomorrow.

"For a volunteer carnival with over 1,000 volunteers to exist nearly 100 years later says a lot about the community it is involving," said Barbara Moeller, president of the Glen Burnie Improvement Association.

The association sponsors the carnival, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain the association's building and fund local nonprofit groups such as Scouts, sports leagues and schools.

Moeller has chaired the carnival off and on for about two decades. To the group of about 15 teenage workers who start setting up the carnival two weeks before it opens, she's "Miss Barb," riding around on a golf cart and commanding the troops on her walkie-talkie. For many of the teens, it's their first real job.

Like most of the families involved, the Falls family has made a tradition of working at the carnival.

Planning for the carnival begins in January, and the work doesn't stop until the carnival is packed up in mid-August.

Gary Falls and his wife, Donna, started helping at the carnival bingo stand when they were dating at Glen Burnie High School more than 30 years ago. They brought their daughter, Amy, to the carnival when she was only 8 days old.

"Now she has a daughter," Donna Falls said. "She was in a stroller last year [at the carnival], but now we can't keep her down."

The couple are running the bingo stand this year, and their 20-month-old granddaughter, Erin Mueller, will be helping her grandfather call out the numbers.

"When you have one volunteer, you have a family full," said Cindy Rios, a Pasadena resident whose family has been involved at the carnival for more than 20 years.

To Rios, the best thing about the carnival is being able to see the friends she's made over the years - friends that she only sees at carnival time. Besides going on rides and playing games, Rios said, people set up lawn chairs to sit and watch what's going on and catch up with friends.

Although the carnival has changed over the years, some traditions remain.

Visitors still can get a hot dog and a Coke for $1 and take their chance at winning lamps decorated with pictures of tigers or NASCAR vehicles.

For the centennial anniversary, signs are being placed at the stands that have withstood the test of time, telling which year they first appeared at the carnival.

At the bingo stand, which was called the "corn game" when it first appeared in 1925, players still keep score on their cards with kernels of corn - "just like the kind you use to feed the ducks," Moeller said. Among other early arrivals were the ice cream stand, which started in 1919, and the coaster cars, which started in 1927.

Since there is no entrance gate and admission is free, Moeller said the association can't estimate how many people are attending, although the carnival is full every night.

But old carnival-goers said the event has grown over the years, bringing in more people and making it more of a commercial endeavor.

"I would love to have the old carnival back," Kreider said.

He said he preferred the days when the carnival grounds were covered with wood chips and the event was more of a gathering for neighbors than a big moneymaker.

When the Kreiders ran the original milk-bottle stand more than 35 years ago, people could get three balls for a quarter and choose between a straw hat, a pack of cigarettes or a penknife as prizes for knocking down the milk bottles.

"That definitely wouldn't be today," Kreider laughed.

rochelle.mcconkie@baltsun.com

The Big Glen Burnie Carnival

Where: On the grounds of the Glen Burnie Improvement Association building, 19 Crain Highway South.

When: Today through Aug. 4. Hours are 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday. A 100-year ribbon-cutting celebration will be held at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Parking: Free in the Anne Arundel County municipal parking garage, adjacent to the carnival grounds.

Costs: Admission is free. Rides cost $1 per ticket. Major rides are three tickets. Monday through Thursday, all-you-can-ride wristbands cost $15 and are sold until 9:30 p.m.

Information: 410-766-6760 or www.gbia.org.

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