As the Easter show comes and goes, we all wave goodbye for another year, but this is not the case for everyone, for some this is a way of life. Leanne Karaitiana has been a part of carnivals for as long as she can remember, with her family starting in the business back in 1924.
“My dad was a boxer, my mother’s been a show woman, and still is, we’re all family in this entertainment industry.” Leanne says.
Leanne sat at the front of the Mondial Ferris Wheel each day of the Royal Easter Show, helping patrons enter the iconic experience right in the center of the festival. Although she comes from the family business ‘Bells Boxing Troupe’, she joined the team at Chants Amusements, run by Cassie and Chipper, which goes to show how big of a community there is behind these shows.
“We all stick together and jump in and help where needed” she says.
Chants amusements run a plethora of other rides including the “rock and roll” and the “rebel looping coaster” the only travelling looping coaster in Australia. But one of the things that makes their Mondial ferris wheel so special, is that it has a wheelchair accessible ramp, with two of the booths being reserved for accessibility needs.
Leanne is one of many people who come from a long lineage of “showies”. Broderick Caview a showman from Goldenway amusement has been in the business his whole life, with his grandparents beginning the family tradition.
“it’s fifth generation on my side and sixth generation on my wife’s side.” Broderick says.
Broderick met his wife working the shows over 40 years ago and now has his children in the business. It goes to show that although this may be a job it is also a lifestyle for the showmen that come back year after year.
“out of the field, you’re competition. But when you stop, you stop and have a beer and everybody else gets down” he says.
The show isn’t just a business, but a way of connecting with community and building tradition.
“Sydney this particular show is one of the best you know a lot of our friends we don’t get to see this is where they all meet up.” says Leanne
It really goes to show, although this may be one day in the life of the attendees, the real heart of it is built by the people who live it. The families who grow up travelling the country month after month, year after year, just to bring that magic that makes us all feel alive.
