'I can't imagine life any other way': Carnival couple has spent four decades living on the road

For some, the idea of running away and joining the circus is a glamorous adventure. For others, it's the plot of a horror story.

The reality is somewhere between the two extremes, depending on your personality.

"People tend to romanticize life on the road," said Stephen "Spider" Stimpson, 63, of Bangor, Maine. "It's not just fun and games."

Stimpson should know. He's worked the carnival circuit for 47 years.

"This life isn't for everyone," he said. "A lot of people come and go. This is a chosen profession. We work as hard or harder than most people. We're modern-day nomads."

Not a 9-to-5 job

It's a Sunday afternoon. Stimpson and his wife of 42 years, "Tiny Tina," are sitting at the dining room table in the fifth-wheel trailer they call home nine months of the year. They're at the Barry County Expo Center in Hastings, having just moved on from the Eaton County Fair in Charlotte.

Stephen lights a Marlboro Red while Tina plays a video game on her phone to the hum of the air conditioner. "We didn't get much sleep last night," he says. "We're all really tired but there's a lot to do."

The carnival life is a not a 9-to-5 job. After closing one run on a Saturday, they have Sunday and Monday to set up before a Tuesday opening.

"We rolled in a few hours after midnight and caught a few hours of sleep. Once we're assigned our spots, the kids will begin setting up," he said.

Stephen spent some time Sunday chatting with the fair director, the person who decides where all the rides, booths and concessions are located on the midway. That location can make or break a vendor's week.

"Having a good relationship with people out here is important," he said.

'We're all family out here'

Stephen and Tina run and manage a trailer-length midway carnival game called  "Bust one Balloon" for Elliott Amusements of Mason. Elliott is a carnival company that provides many of the games, rides, and food vendors on midways for about a half-dozen county fairs in Michigan. After working the Michigan tour for Elliott, the Stimpsons find work at other fairs and carnivals.

Life on the road is a family affair. Their caravan runs three generations deep.

"I can't imagine life any other way," Stephen said.

"Yep," said Tina, nodding in agreement.

Their son, Stephen "Stimpy" II, 26, and his girlfriend Colleen DeMaris, 22, of Milo, Maine, work the carnival circuit alongside them.

The younger Stimpson owns a rope-ladder game called "Jacob's Ladder." Fairgoers pay to climb a rope ladder and if they make it to the top, they win a prize. DeMaris often floats between game booths to help out when she's not working her full-time gig as a Java programmer. She works remotely in the RV she and Stephen II share.

The Stimpsons' son-in-law Bryce Samuelson, 29, of Yuma, Ariz., runs a duck pond game on the midway. His wife Lillian, 29, works a cotton candy booth. Their 2-year-old son, Dawson, travels with them.

The toddler fits right in. Dawson's not afraid of strangers and often bounces around the midway between his parents, grandparents and a few trusted co-workers.

Their eldest son Jack, 31, runs rides for a New Jersey-based Reithhoffer shows.

Gary Jones, 29, of Nashville, North Carolina, is also part of the Stimpson family. He's worked with them for just over 10 years.

"Once I worked my first fair I was hooked," Jones says. "I get to see America. I travel the country and meet all kinds of people and go places I never would've gone. I'm in a new place every week. What's cooler than that, really?"

Christian Desirey, 33, of Bangor, Maine has worked with the Stimpsons for over a decade. He got his start in the business at Coney Island when he was 10.

"My mom worked with them in Coney Island and other venues," Desirey said. "After she died, they became my parents."

Dispelling misconceptions

Showmen on the carnival circuit work hard to provide for their families. It requires a diverse set of skills to be successful.

"A common misconception is that we're uneducated," Desirey said. "In reality we're highly educated, not just in book smarts but social smarts. Understanding other people, semantics and the use of your voice. Sociology, knowing how people work as a whole."

Stephen said he has a college degree in business. The children they've raised on the road have been homeschooled.

"The education you get being out here teaches you resilience and adaptability," he said. "You learn how to read and communicate and get along with people. You learn how to survive."

He speaks from experience.

"I've been out here since I was 14 or 15. I ran away from home and ended up in Little Italy in New York, Mulberry Street," he says. "I got taken in by a lady and gentleman that ran clubs in New York and began working for them. Eventually someone offered me a job in Coney Island and it all kinda evolved from there."

Most of Stephen's evolution has come with Tina by his side.

"I stole her from a ride guy 42 years ago," he said.

As Tina tells the story, she wanted buy a joint but Stephen wouldn't sell her one. Instead he offered to share a joint with her.

"About halfway through that joint he blew me a shotgun and our lips touched and that was it," she said. "We both saw fireworks and we've been together ever since."

Finding joy in the work

The Stimpsons find satisfaction in making fair-goers smile.

"I love to see the kids happy, especially the ones who pop their first balloons ever, I mean their faces light up like it's Christmas, that's my fun part," Tina said.

"Being out here, that's what keeps me alive," Stephen says.

"I tried to retire once and went home so I could fish but you get tired of doing that every day," he said. "I got listless and bored and my body started falling apart, I was just wasting away. Six months into it my wife said, "what's it gonna take to get your ass off the couch?"

"I said, 'let me go home, I want to go home...'"

Tina finishes his thought, with a tear welling in her eye.

"And we came back out."

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: How carnival couple built a life for their family over four decades on the road