Poor Man's Springsteen Concert and Carny Tradition

I debated about what title to give this post as it started with seeing a Springsteen knock-off band, and ended with honoring a recently deceased carny worker. 

Maybe this should be two posts instead of one long one.

Tonight we went to Mercer County Park to see the B Street Band play at the annual L.E.A.D Fest State Fair. LEAD stands for Law Enforcement Against Drugs and Violence. Over the years I have heard about the event, but it wasn't until I saw a Facebook post on the Spring-Nuts page that I was enticed to attend. 

For $5 we could hear the B Street Band, the world's longest running tribute band. Or, as I thought of them, the poor man's Springsteen concert. Looking at their website, they perform quite frequently in the area driving distance to Asbury Park, NJ. The lead singer is great. If you closed your eyes, he sounds a lot like The Boss. We had a great time. Hopefully they were not too disappointed to only be performing to a couple of dozen fans. As a bonus, there was a great fireworks show as they were closing out with "Born to Run."

After the show we walked through the carnival. Carnivals have never quite been my scene since I started thinking about the safety of rides I see being transported in pieces down the highway. There used to be a carnival that was connected with my parents' church. They would take the grandchildren to it, while I adopted a "what I don't see won't hurt me" approach. 

There never was a problem.

The weather was perfect. No hint of the heatwave coming later in the week.

As the event was not that crowded, leaving would not be a challenge. Still we took a stroll through the carnival side and compared things to Disneyland. 

Fireworks. Check!

Mousetrap ride=Mickey. Check!

Carousel. Check!

Then I noticed the lead horse, which is Jingles at Disneyland, was turned backwards and had a sign attached to it. It took me about a split second to identify that as a tribute. Game over. No Disneyland equivalent, but my curiosity was piqued.

Gloria passed away two days ago. She was traveling on the road with Reithoffer Shows up until she was 93 years young. Carny tradition is that the lead horse is turned around as a tribute. Someone with the parks was able to answer our questions about the tribute, and tell us it is an industry tradition, which then made me wonder about other carnival traditions.

May her memory be a blessing.