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.....My trips to the county fair were mothballed when I was in college and later working for a newspaper in Iowa. One of the first things I did when I moved to Oshkosh in 1977 was circle in red the dates of the Winnebago County Fair. My first return trip to the fair was memorable. I stopped at the “Guess Your Weight” area on the midway operated by the Strachan family of Oshkosh. I stepped on a scale and the attendant guessed my weight. Bingo. He guessed it right to the pound. No prize for me that night.The Strachans worked game concessions — known as a joint — and we shot the breeze for a while. I was interested in their work as “carnies.” That night, I learned a midway concession customer was called a “mark.” I had a chance recently to talk with Jim “Whitey” Strachan and his brother, Bobby John Strachan, and we went down memory lane on their “carnie” careers. Summer is fair season in Wisconsin and a good time to remember fairs that helped shape our lives. Whitey got the ball rolling in 1959 when he jumped the fence on Viola Avenue where the family lived and onto the old fairgrounds where he got a job working concessions. It was the start of the carnival business that lasted through 1981 for the Strachans. The Strachans soon became independent contractors, where they paid a fee to the carnival to let them set up their concessions. They bought their own prizes and worked their concessions to make a living. They played many a carnival season with Calkins Midways of Oshkosh and also had stints with Steele’s Combined Shows, Bell City, A&P, Rainbow Valley and Christman’s. Their “carny” work took the Strachans to other states besides Wisconsin including Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. They once met former major league pitcher Dean Chance, who had carnival concessions after retiring from the big leagues. “It was worth it. Some people live all their lives and don’t get past the state line. I got to see the country and a chance to meet people,” Whitey said of his years as a “carny.” Bobby John said after he worked the carnival for two weeks the novelty wore off. “Then it became a job,” he said. “I wasn’t there to entertain anybody. I was there to make a living.” Other Strachan siblings were part of this “carny” family. Eddie Strachan and Kathy Strachan spent time with the carnival along with the Strachan children’s father, Robert Strachan.
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