New carnival will serve Colorama this year

Colorama will have a new carnival this year, Rainier Amusements, out of Portland, Oregon, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce announced this week.

The new carnival is one of the featured attractions for this year’s Colorama Festival, May 12-14.

“We are pleased that we have been able to contract with such a highly respected amusement organization,” chamber Executive Director Peggy Nevsimal stated.

The final details of the contract with Rainier Amusements were signed late last week.

The Portland amusement group stated in its news release that it is the next generation of “traveling amusement park entertainment groups in the Pacific Northwest.”

Crystal Hoss, of Rainier Amusements, said the company’s contract with the chamber calls for a minimum of 12 rides, ranging from the milder type, suitable for kids at least 2 years old, to the “thrill-seeking ones” favored by teens and adults. The carnival will also include traditional “midway” games.

Rainier Amusements prides itself on its safety record and the professionalism of its company representatives, Nevsimal stated.

The festival had no carnival in 2016. After the prior contractor was determined to be a no-show, the chamber scrambled unsuccessfully to recruit several possible replacements, including Rainier, at the last minute.

This year, with a stop in Hermiston, Oregon, for Cinco de Mayo the weekend before, their schedule made it feasible to serve the Colorama Festival.

“We are excited to be a part of it,” Hoss said.

The company, which is a family business, travels all of Washington, Idaho and Oregon, and was the contractor for the 2016 Oregon State Fair in Salem, Hoss said.

Last year, chamber did find replacement entertainment with a new attraction that proved to be quite popular — a company that brought several bounce-house type attractions. Those proved popular with younger festival patrons, but less so with teenagers, an age group for which the carnival had become a tradition.

Some of those attractions will also be available for Colorama.