An evening of corndogs, stuffed frogs and bumper cars

Where else do people opt for a corndog dinner with a lemonade shake-up and an elephant ear on the side?\nIt's the same place where young and old anxiously wait to hop on their favorite rides. Four carnival tickets to make their stomachs flip, three to make their hearts jump and four more to make their heads spin.\nDriving down Highway 45-46 and Dunn Street, the light spectacle is hard to miss. Cumberland Valley's Show "Fun Frolic," located in the Memorial Stadium parking lot, rolled into Bloomington last Sunday. \nOpen daily from 6 p.m. to midnight and scheduled to pack-up and move out this weekend, the carnival travels all over the country and stops next in Mount Vernon, Ind. \nMandy Hafner, 13, and Chelsee Sanders, 12, both incoming students at Jackson Creek Middle School, made the trip out to Fun Frolic for their fourth year in a row.\n"We heard from everyone how fun it was," Hafner said. "My favorite ride is Fever Ball. It flips you around and around. You freak out," she said in reference to one of the carnival's more popular rides.\nSanders' least favorite ride is the Mega Loop because it "leaves you upside-down for too long," she said.\n"We wind up spending most of our allowance money on rides and games," Sanders said. "We ran out of money in our first hour here."\n\n

\nOne of the many questions on carnival-goers' minds is the legitimacy of games. Mike McCormick, carnival employee in charge of running "Fred's All-Star Shots," a basketball game with an oval rim, confirmed that all rides and games are inspected before they can operate. \n"I get anywhere from 100 to 200 people a night asking me if the game is rigged," he said.\n"But it's easy. A 16-year-old girl on one of the local basketball teams won two animals last night. It's not rigged. Everyone's got their rumors."\nMcCormick, a Louisville native, said his favorite aspect of working for the carnival is meeting people. \n"It's interesting. You meet a lot of people, and I like being out in public. There's a lot of interesting folk that come through here," he said.\n

Chrystal Popp attempts "Bank-a-Ball" to win a stuffed bear for her son, Baylee, as carnival employee Chuck Selser watches (Katie Griffin • IDS).

\n"One ball for two dollars and three for five," he calls out to passers-by. "Your choice of a Winnie-the-Pooh Bear or a fox."\nTeenagers walk up to the game with curious looks, and many of them turn away with skepticism.\n"One basket to win," he said. "That's all you need."\nCharles Selser, one of three employees working a few tents away for "Bank-a-Ball," a game with a goal to bank a whiffle ball off a stop sign and into a basket, says the games just take practice.\n"How much is it?" asked a young boy with curiosity.\n"One ball for two dollars. One in the basket wins," Selser said.\nThe boy paused.\n"Uhh…one dollar?" He smiled and watched Selser bank the ball off the sign and into the basket with ease. Satisfied with the display, the boy fished into his pocket for another dollar.\nAfter missing his shot, Selser smiled and demonstrated his toss again with success.\n"Here, I'll make you a deal," Selser said. "For three dollars, I'll give you two balls."\nThe boy looked at Selser and laughed. \n"Yeah right, nice try. Those bears aren't worth five bucks." The boy turned and walked away.\n

Many prizes were available to be won at the carnival(Katie Griffin • IDS).

\nSelser, a Florida native, has been in the carnival business for 29 years. \nHe said in about one night, "Bank-a-ball" makes around $6,000. \n"It's all in the toss. I throw it so lightly and people come up and throw it like a baseball," he said. "I show them the technique every time, but they still throw it too hard. Only one person has won all day today."\nHe called out to another group of teens passing by.\n"Oh come on, don't be bashful," he said, waving a whiffle ball in the air. "It only takes one to win." \nSelser isn't a bit disappointed with his life decision to work for traveling carnivals. \n"It's just like life. You've got your good and bad parts," he said. "You meet all kinds of weirdos, but mostly nice folks. And even if they don't think they can win my game, it's not rigged. \n"They make it harder than it is."\n

Kristy McClain, a Visual Communications major purchases a couple of hot dogs for herself and her son, Matthew at the concession stand (Katie Griffin • IDS).