A FUNFAIR has spoken about the efforts they have gone through to make a fun, Covid-safe experience for visitors as restrictions have eased up.
The vintage Carters Steam Fair arrived back at Maldon’s Promenade Park after being grounded for more than a year due to the pandemic.
Organisers put a lot of thought into innovating the fairground to make it secure including a pre-payment system so no money changes hands, mask-wearing, and regular sanitisation.
Joby Carter runs the fairground with wife Georgina.
Joby Carter with his wife Georgina Carter who both run the fair
He said: “It’s great to be out on tour again after a year in lockdown and I’m excited to set up the fair in Promenade Park which has so much to offer visitors coming for day trips and has always been a favourite location for our family.
“We trialled this new fairground experience in our hometown of Maidenhead and had such positive feedback – everyone loved being able to give the kids a proper treat in a covid-secure way.
“We’ve put a lot of thought and planning into how we could make the fair experience as covid-secure as possible as we felt that people would like peace of mind when they visited us.
“We know some families that haven’t even been to play areas during the pandemic, so we wanted to find a way to bring back the family fun and the smiles to children’s faces, but in a way that was as reassuring as possible for the parents.”
People enjoying Carters Steam Fair 2021
The rides are cleaned with a fogging machine that gives 24-hour protection and everyone is asked to wear a mask and use hand sanitiser after going on a ride.
Joby said: “We’ve introduced a pre-paid experience so that no one needs to handle cash or ride tokens and so that we can monitor the number of people on site at any time.
“The advantage of that for our visitors is that they can avoid big crowds and there are no long queues.
“It isn’t like a big theme park where you might queue for more than 30 minutes for one ride.
People enjoying Carters Steam Fair 2021
“With our new, ticketed fairground experience you get guided around six rides in 30 minutes for one set price.
Dating from the 1890s to the 1960s, the vintage rides have featured in films such as Paddington 2 and Rocketman.
Tickets for the Carters Funfair Experience can be booked for this weekend at carterssteamfair.co.uk.
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