There is something magical about a traveling carnival. Every summer ushers the show back into town for hot evenings spent playing games, going on rides, swilling ice cold beer, and eating ridiculously good, albeit greasy food. One of the other great attractions at the carnival are the workers that travel with the show. These people are known as carnies; they live a different life, a life less traveled. Carnies hold an interesting place in our imaginations because they have formed a culture that is purely their own. Rugged types with missing teeth and prison style tattoos stand in front of game booths egging you on to win the big prize for your girlfriend. They are the people that walk past you unfazed by the loud music, bright lights, and deep-fried everything. Their skin is weathered from spending long days out in the hot sun, and they feel at home out on the road. While this life may not be ideal for many, there are some that wear the title of carny on their sleeve, and with pride.

Pros:

Meet A Myriad Mix Of Characters

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The most interesting part of being a carnival worker is the people you meet along the way. From the patrons visiting the fair, to their co-workers, carny's meet a myriad mix of characters over the years. Carnival's have a long standing reputation of attracting some of the most interesting and eccentric personalities the country has to offer. Carny's have taken this mix of people and created their own sub culture amidst the backdrop of the carnival. It's the people they've worked, lived, partied, hurt, and sweated with over the years that makes the entire journey worth it.

Live Simply

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The lights are sparkling, the weather is hot, and the carnival is bustling with people -- people from every walk of life. This is a typical day for a carny. They work long hours, sometimes 12 hours a day or more, and then retire to their small quarters. They don't have much free time to enjoy the money they earn before its time to move onto another city. One of the tricks to their transient lifestyle is mastering the art of packing light and living relatively simply. With carnies constantly on the road, there isn't space to bring along things that aren't absolutely necessary. So they learn to lead a simple life, filled with the freedom of not having to be tied down for very long.

Secret Carny Language

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While some people just see carnies as people with missing teeth, dirty clothes, and long hair; they're missing the fact that some carnies are excellent con men who developed their own secret carny language. The language emerged because many of the first carnival games were rigged and designed to look easily winnable, but proved to be very difficult. It was common practice for carnies to insert "iz" between the syllables of a word, to make their conversations less understandable to outsiders. For example, carny would be pronounced "cizarnie." They could then communicate with each other about who the "mark" was, or if someone was a "sharpie", or if one of them had to go out and be a "shill" to attract more players.

A Transient Lifestyle

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One of the great perks that invites people to the carny way of life is the transient lifestyle it offers. While many people want the American dream -- having a career, getting married, buying a home with a white picket fence -- there are others that get the itch to constantly be on the go. People who can't seem to grasp the idea of staying in one place for a prolonged period of time. These people were meant to be out on the road, with only memories to remind them of a place they once called home.

Cons:

Romantic Relationships On The Road

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A romantic relationship is one of the hardest things to procure while living a transient lifestyle. The dating pool within co-workers is slim pickings at best. The long and grueling workdays, combined with minimal free time, makes finding a mate that much more difficult. An old carny by the name of Sam "Goody" Winger knows all too well what transpires when looking for love on the road; "A lot of times you meet someone and they're here one day and gone the next," he says. "If you understand that before you get involved in the situation, you won't be effected."

Intimate Living Spaces

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When the carnival pulls into a new town, there can be as many as 100 members and up. Everyone gets on task right away and sets up a makeshift village of semis, trailers, tents, and other living quarters. In some parts of the country they travel to, people may live anywhere from hundreds of feet, to miles away from their nearest neighbor. In a carny's world, they live two or three feet away from each other, which creates a very intimate environment. When you live that close to people, maintaining even an ounce of privacy can prove difficult, and staying out of each other's business can be equally as trying.

Drug Problems

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There is something about a carny that makes you think they all have an alcohol and drug problem. It's something in their demeanor, it's about the way they carry themselves, the dirty clothes, missing teeth, and weathered appearance. They are a rough-and-tumble crowd. They have that, "you don't want to mess with me" look. According to 24-year-old carnival worker Jesse Williams, drugs are in fact a serious problem in the carnival culture, "I've been a part of other shows that have a lot of drug problems and people are up partying all night long. Some of the people drink while they're working. There are some dirty carnivals out there, and it's those ones that give us a bad name."

Carny Culture Is Changing

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Being a carny remains a line of work that welcomes the weirdos and celebrates the astonishing. While the attractions aren't changing anytime soon, the rules of the game are. Traveling carnivals used to be small family owned affairs, which are transitioning into large-scale business operations, and they now require background checks on new employee's, drug testing, and a valid government ID. The transition has had a profound effect on carny culture. Workers used to travel the country with the same small company, where their loyalty was valued. Now they rely on a handful of permanent members, and depend more on the temporary workers. Most carnies can't pass a drug test or background check, which is now locking them out of the culture they helped create. While things may be getting "cleaned" up, it seems as though carnival culture is dying a slow death.

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