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When Lansing Fire Commissioners made the large field behind Central Station unavailable due to a construction project, it left department members scrambling to find an alternate site that is both big enough and dry enough to hold a Lansing Fire Department Carnival.  It looked like construction and overly wet weather would mean no carnival this year.  This week Carnival Committee member Dennis Griffin says the carnival is on.

"We are having a carnival," he says.  "It will be held at the RINK May 26, 27, and 28.  Friday and Saturday it is open from 6pm to 10pm, and Saturday from 2pm to 10pm.  We contacted the RINK and they are more than willing to have us there."

Some popular features will be missing for a variety of reasons.  Fireworks and entertainment are out because there isn't enough time to solicit donations and hire the bands.  Normally the department would have solicited donations by now, but unusually wet weather and the uncertainty about a location meant they couldn't ask for donations when they couldn't say whether or not there would even be a carnival.  Griffin says that if someone steps forward with donations they will try to make fireworks and/or entertainment happen.

Another casualty of the move is the annual parade.  The parade typically featured floats from local groups and businesses, and fire trucks from departments around the area, including some historical fire trucks.  It is a staple of the parade that candy is thrown to the crowd along the route, with kids scrambling to pick it up.  Griffin says that it is too late to organize a parade, and that it would be too dangerous to hold it on East Shore Drive.

Finally, fire department volunteers won't be cooking their traditional fare this year, because their equipment is in the food shed at the fire station.  Griffin says that the rides provider is helping him find a food provider in the eleventh hour, and that if a local provider wants to sell food at this year's carnival it is not too late to step forward.


With the construction season beginning Commissioners had to close off a large portion of the field behind Central Station that will be used to store equipment and park construction machinery while a $2.3 million addition to the fire station is constructed this summer.  While it was technically possible to hold the carnival farther back in the field, liability and safety issues prompted the March 1st decision to not invite the public that close to a construction site.

The immediate effect was twofold: the annual Fire Department Easter egg hunt was canceled, and Carnival Committee members were left scrambling for an alternate site.  A number of sites were considered including the field across the street from the fire station that is owned by Cargill.  The Asbury Church offered their field, even going so far as polling the neighbors to make sure a carnival there would be acceptable to them.  But heavy rains made the church land unusable.

"The land there was just so saturated that you couldn't even put equipment on it," Griffin says.  "It would have been the same thing with the Easter Egg Hunt -- it would have been a muddy outlook.  I don't think people would have wanted to have their kids in that."

The Lansing Fire District funds the emergency response needs of the community, including four fire stations, trucks, and equipment.  The Lansing Volunteer Fire Department is actually a separate entity.  Money they make from fundraisers is used for extras like T-shirts for the volunteers.  A couple of barbecues raises money for the department each year, and an annual golf tournament funds scholarships for Lansing high School graduates each year.

While the carnival is a fundraiser for the department, Griffin says that was never the primary purpose of hosting it.

"The carnival was more of a thank you to the community," he says.  "We never looked at it as a money maker.  If we made money, we made it."


The fire department hosted a carnival in the 1970s.  When Chris Burris became Chief he wanted to bring it back.  That was around 15 years ago, and it has since become a staple of the Lansing community.  But with dwindling numbers of volunteers who are required by New York State to undergo more and more training, the carnival has become more than they can handle.  In addition to planning, which typically begins in January, volunteers are responsible for security, garbage and litter pickup, and manning the ticket booth.  This is the second year of a two year contract the department had with Playland Amusement Inc. of Auburn, and the department members voted to not renew.

"It's been a long haul," Griffin notes.  "As the years have passed the membership has gotten smaller.  It's a long weekend.  I'm there from Sunday to Sunday making sure the equipment is ready.  The membership comes Tuesday and Wednesday to get us ready for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Then we all end up there Sunday afternoon cleaning up again."

Behind the scenes other local groups are considering whether or not they can take it over, but no decisions have been made yet.

"The last two years we voted to do it," Griffin says.  "This year because of the weather and the building being built put everybody in a bind.  It was the same group of people every year.  This year was the end of the contract.  A lot of the members felt that it was time to get out of it, and if somebody wants to come forward and take it over, more power to them."

The end result is that there will be a carnival this year, with some features missing.  Griffin says the department will consider whether to hold future Easter egg hunts once construction is completed at Central Station.  But this is the last year the department will be hosting a carnival.

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