The second day of the 2025 IISA Trade Show again saw a steady flow of attendees as people from around the industry came to meet friends, renew friendships and kick some tires.  The mood was definitely optimistic with people looking forward to a solid season.

The OABA held its annual Hall of Fame ceremony at the Museum and a couple of industry stars and important industry pioneers were inducted.  Debbie Powers, co-owner with her husband, Corky, of Powers Great American midways was inducted first.  She has been a stalwart member of the OABA and supports the organization in fundraising on H-2B issues affecting the industry.  If you have never purchased a raffle ticket from Debbie, you probably have never been to the convention! 



Danny Huston was the second inductee into the OABA Hall of Fame.  The honor was accepted by his son Blake, who has taken a leading role with the largest carnival company in the history of North America.  Huston grew up in Indiana and started out as a game concessionaire through an introduction to the business from his neighbor.  He worked with Pugh Shows and later owned Mid-America Shows before selling to the sprawling North American Midway Entertainment Organization.  Later Danny and Jeff Blomsness bought back NAME from its corporate owners, before selling to Town Square Media.  He later purchased the show back again, now in sole ownership of the country's largest carnival company.  NAME plays many of the largest fairs in North America, including 11 of the Top 50 fairs.  They play over 120 events each year with 17,000,000+ attendees.

The Pioneer Award went to Jim Judkins of JKJ Workforce.  Judkins was a pioneer in bringing H-2B visa workers to the carnival business and has fought diligently for the program through the years.  He is currently working with allies and congress to introduce legislation for a new type of visa, the P-4, more closely focused on the carnival and entertainment business.  His work in they area has been game changing.

Museum Happenings

In other museum news, Tom Gaylin of the Museum Board had some big news to report.  After the passing of Doc Rivera, the museum's curator and driving creative force, the organization was left with big shoes to fill. 

Gaylin has been thinking about the transition for a while and he was working behind the scenes on a few candidates.  It turns out that his top pick and a museum board member was the man for the job and Lee Stevens will be filling the role of curator starting Monday.

“Lee is articulate, intelligent, personable and has a passion for research”, noted Gaylin.  “That is what made Doc so great too, he loved to learn about carnival history and Lee is very similar”.

Steven's food concession business will be run full time by his son Sebastian so he will have full time availability for the role. 

The museum is currently open Thursdays through Sundays from noon - 5pm and Gaylin has big plans for the museum moving forward. 

He is working on a docu-series for the museum that has had some interest from major streaming services and he is hoping the resulting show will garner lots of additional publicity for the museum. 

“We want to see it be a tourist destination for Florida and the Tampa area specifically”, he said.

The museum is adding new attractions and improvements.  The double Zacchini canon will be back on display shortly, a historic attraction that should attract attention.  Additionally, the museum is building a railroad berm and siding where they hope to display a flat car to show how many carnivals moved around the country for much of our history.

Gaylin is hoping to create a “Friends of the Museum” organization for volunteers and they will be expanding the capital campaign.  While the museum is well funded so far, they want to secure its place well into the future.

Gaylin says that he believes in 20 - 25 year the museum will be a major source of fundraising for the club and a well loved attraction for Florida.

 

Gibtown Podcast — Special Edition

In Amusement Warehouse news, we have begun recording mini podcast episodes live from the trade show.  Our first edition was recorded today and features Tom Arnold, Phil Wilson and R.D. Thomas.

Tom Arnold and his family have been a driving force behind the IISA and the trade show in general.  Tom holds the tile of Superintendent Emeritus and he still helps with the planning and set up of the show.  Learn in the episode about the trade show, the planning that goes into the presentation, what the club does year-round and how much the club and its related organizations do for the industry, especially those that need assistance.

Phil Wilson was a side show operator for 35 years before transitioning into more specialty attractions,  His father built fun houses and back end pieces and Phil entered show business on his own after he purchased a girl into a gorilla show. At one time he had 11 shows he was operating at the Ohio State Fair.  After selling his shows, Phil purchased specialty attractions such a a Euro Bungy, a Sling Shot and now a mechanical bull.  Learn about Phil's life in the business and his adventures with shows of the past and present.

R.D. Thomas is the co-owner of Powers and Thomas Midways.  R.D. along with Eddie Powers, purchased Swank's Steel City Shows of Pittsburgh about a decade ago. Both owners grew up on Powers' Great American Midways, owned by Eddie's father and R.D.'s father-in-law Corky Powers,  Since their purchase of Steel City Shows, Thomas has expanded and updated the show's ride inventory and added midway amenities and customer service enhancements.  The show now plays many events along with Powers' Great American, including some of the largest shows on the Eastern Seaboard.

Hear what the plans for the future are for Powers and Thomas and what they think of the trade show and the state of the industry.

Watch on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast network including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music.