LIHUE — “We’re tearing down the fair, taking apart all the rides just trying to load our trailers so we can head to Kona next,” said ride operator Megan Doubell, who was tearing down the Wave Swinger Monday.
The scene at Vidinha Stadium was much different from the four-day fair that ended Sunday night. The tents containing animal, vendor and candidate booths had already been taken down.
The food booths were gone and so were the crowds who enjoyed the Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair over the weekend, but many of the carnival rides remained in varying stages of being torn down and packed into shipping containers for their journey to the Big Island.
It was hot, humid and overcast. There was a brief rain shower but despite the weather, everyone worked as a team.
“We’re hoping to be done by Wednesday,” said Kaleo Fuller, who was helping tear down the Ferris wheel.
Brian Anakalea and Chris Contrades were working on removing the wheel’s crossbars. Once the six cross bars are removed, the rest of the Ferris wheel parts will come apart easily, Fuller said.
“It’s going to take probably like two and a half hours to take it down because there’s a lot of processes to take it down,” he said.
Fuller, whose been working at the fair for about seven years, said setting up and tearing down the fair is his favorite part of the job.
“It’s hard work for do and you learn something new everyday,” he said.
Back at the Wave Swinger, Doubell said it will take about four hours to tear down the ride.
“There’s over 1,000 parts to this ride. We start with taking out the doghouse first, that’s where we station ourselves when we’re operating the ride, then you drop the ride down, then we start taking off the swingers and the lights and stuff. Then next is we’re going to be taking down the upper parts of the ride,” she said.
Doubell said she started working at the fair when an aunty reached out to her because they needed help.
“I liked it so I kept coming,” she said.
Working with the people is her favorite part of being a ride operator at the fair.
“As we work the fair, we work together as a team, but we’re like a big family,” she said.
Meeting new people everyday is Roi Dagoro’s favorite part of working at the fair. He’s worked there for two years and had just spent the morning tearing down the game booths.
He enjoys seeing the children who are attending the fair happy and having a good time.
“I hate seeing them have a bad day and not smiling,” he said.
Makaio Bautista has worked at the fair for about six months. He said it’s a fun job and good work experience. His most memorable experience so far has been putting up and taking down the 50th State Fair on Oahu.
This weekend on Kauai was fun, he said.
“It was a lot of people,” Bautista said.
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Bethany Freudenthal, courts, crime and county reporter, 652-7891, bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com
