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ABOUT ATZ
Tricia Vita working Pitch Till U Win with Mom, Colbert’s Fiesta Show
When I was the littlest carny kid with Colbert’s Fiesta, I was a pro at calling the people in to play my Mom’s Pitch Till You Win and worked alongside my Dad in his Spot Game. I spent the first 17 years of my life on the midway, often yearning to travel far beyond the carnival circuit. A scholarship took me to Sarah Lawrence College, then to a study-abroad program in Japan.
I’ve worked as a literary scout in New York for the Japanese publisher Shueisha and translated One Thousand and One-Second Stories (Issen ichibyo monogatari) by the Japanese Dadaist Inagaki Taruho.
In 2001, homesick for the midway I’d left behind, I went on the road with S & S Amusements, touring the Pennsylvania fairs. Since then, I’ve worked as a game agent with Wade Shows at New York City’s Big A Fair, the Delaware State Fair, the Michigan State Fair and the Central Florida Fair.
Tricia Vita at the Wayne County Fair. Electricia Banner by Johnny Meah. Photo © Tricia Vita
Today I’m a New York-based writer and social media maven who spends the summer working in Coney Island. You might find me running a game or having a beer and a bite to eat at Ruby’s or Paul’s Daughter.
I’m a contributing editor of Games: The Magazine for Creative Minds at Play. My articles about Coney Island have appeared in Islands, Preservation and Metropolis, among others. I’ve also written for amusement industry trade publications Amusement Business and IAAPA Funworld. Selected articles are archived at triciavita.com
Bob Guskind’s passionate coverage of all things Coney on Gowanus Lounge and curbed and the void left by his death inspired the launch of Amusing the Zillion in April 2009. We dedicated our first news-breaking post to Gowanus Lounge, saying if Bob were still here, he would undoubtedly be covering this story and we would be at the beach.
Rest in peace, Bob Guskind. Journalist, Blogger, Brooklyn’s Blogfather. Coney Island misses you and your work continues to be a source of inspiration.
Tricia Vita
hello[AT]triciavita[DOT]com
Amusing the Zillion 
[…] cannot help but chuckle. Good luck, my former carny comrade— may your blog live long and […]
Tricia:
I love your post about Colbert’s Fiesta! I used to go when the carnival came to town in Nantucket when I was a kid. I love the photo – do you have more? A key family memory is the parakeet that my paraent’s friend won for me pitching my last dime in a pitching game. I named him Charlie after the friend. Was my mother pleased – not!
All the best,
Sara
Sara,
Thanks for sharing your memories of the carnival in Nantucket. Everyone who travelled with the carnival loved to go there too. It was quite an experience taking all the trucks and trailers to the Vineyard and Nantucket by ferry boat. My key family memory of Nantucket is renting a bicycle and pushing it around the island because I didn’t yet know how to ride!
Tricia
Hello Tricia,
I am the 2nd place winner as Best Mermaid, you have me titled in your picture on flicker as Rollerblading Mermaid.
First, thank you for taking the photograph and posting it, I think it looks great! I would like to receive a copy of the picture if you would email it me, it would be greatly appreciated.
FYI yesterday the Daily News did a story on me being the NYC Parade Junkie, I attached a copy of the link to the story.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/07/12/2009-07-12_untitled__parade12m.html
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Best regards,
Marni
Hi Marni,
Thanks for writing. One of the fun things about posting pix of the Mermaid Parade on flickr is hearing back from the mermaids in the photos and putting a bio to the photos.
I saw quite a few other photos of you on flickr, including one where you were skating at the Mermaid Ball at Dreamland Roller Rink. I thought, wow..she’s been skating all day, in and out of the rain, and still looks great! I will send you a copy of the “roller skating mermaid” pic, which is also in this post…
https://amusingthezillion.com/2009/06/22/a-judges-photo-album-of-the-2009-coney-island-mermaid-parade/
Tricia
I grew up on the carnival, but it was traveling carnivals. I never thought I’d ever meet another person from that life, since traveling carnivals seem to have died out.
Hi Adam,
Nice to meet you, too! I miss it and wouldn’t mind going on the road again if the right opportunity arose. What about you?
The good news is the web makes it possible to reconnect with old friends from carnivals of the past or join a discussion board and make new friends. Old timers in the business have long memories. I recommend visiting the message boards at Matt’s Carnival Warehouse.
(http://www.carnivalwarehouse.com/)
Tricia
Hi Tricia,
Thank you so much for posting my video about your Astroland Shrine and getting in touch with me – I feel I have now become a speck of Coney Island’s grand history and I am so honored.. I will be in touch and will try to find you tomorrow on the boardwalk after the plunge. Happy 2010.
Birgit,
We’re lucky you happened by on Jan 1 when the children were there and made the video! When my friend and I started the shrine, we didn’t expect that most of the items, even photocopies, would eventually be taken as mementos. But your video brings back lovely memories of New Year’s, when many visitors stopped to see the shrine.
See you on the beach tomorrow! Happy New Year!
Tricia
Hi Tricia,
Sorry I missed you on New Year’s Day; hopefully there will be another chance.
By the way, Patti Smith’s latest book (to be released on Jan. 19), shows her on the cover in a photo, I believe, taken in front of the Cyclone. Here is the link:
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780066211312/Just_Kids/index.aspx
Birgit
I have not noticed any postings about Amos Wengler: do you know his song “Save Coney Island”. In case you are not aware of him, here is his contact info: amoswengler@gmail.com. The “Save Coney Island” video is very funky…..
Colbert’s Fiesta would visit us here in Manomet, Ma. for two weeks every years during the 1950s and 1960s. I can still remember my heart skipping a beat when the pipe organ in the merry-go-round would start up around 6 p.m. every night. The late afternoon sun was falling over the western woods and we’d dash out of our cottage to enjoy the day’s evening hours walking up and down the midway, spending our few dollars on the games and a once-a-night ride on the cyclone. Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s County Fair, and you’ll catch a sense of what it was like.
Thanks for your comment! It brings back fond memories of Manomet. Perhaps you even stopped to play my family’s games! We had a dart game, a ball game and cover the red spot.
Manomet was one of our favorite spots because we’d get to go to White Horse Beach. Wasn’t the lot next to a church? I think it was also Fourth of July Week. One year we carny kids made an elaborate float for the parade with kiddie ride seats from the Mangels pony cart ride. Those were the days…
Hi Tricia: Yes, it was right beside St. Bonaventure’s Church on Rt. 3A in Manomet. The church still stands as thankfully does the meadow-like field that your carnival occupied. I don’t remember the precise time during the summer that you would appear there but think some years it was for two weeks, and others just one. Would you be able to remember approximately the years you were there – I’m estimating 1955-1965, but perhaps it was a few years after that. I remember those games that your family would run, esp. Cover The Red Dot. As I recall, the dot was blue in color and about six inches at its diameter and the trick was to cover it entirely with three or so smaller, silver spheres made of a thin, tin-like substance. Was that the game? The stand was about halfway down the mid-way and in its center, a few years away from the booth that sold cotten candy and maybe some candied apples. Beyond that the two games I remember most were the Baseball/milk bottle toss (with one or two lead ones at the base of the three bottle pyramid!) and an elaborate game at the end of the midway where horses/greyhounds (can’t remember which) would move up a tote board according to how often the players were able to slap a little ball into one of two small boxes. I excelled at the latter somehow but for whatever reason – maybe because it was at the end of the midway – it didn’t get much patronage. The noises of the carnival still roll around that meadow and the sound of the calliope still will wends its way down my dirt road 50 yards away from the meadow on some soft summer nights. The only distinct voice can I can though is the one of the barker saying: “Come one, come all. Everyone’s a player, everyone’s a winner. But you can win if you don’t play, so let’s all play, let’s all win.” One other question – why would you have gone to White Horse Beach instead of the one at Manomet Bluffs, which was so much closer? I think you must be remembering the other location you would visit in Manomet, in the parking lot of St. Mary’s Church. That was in White Horse Beach. And one final request – please listen to Bruce’s County Fair, and see if it doesn’t bring back memories. Best, Steve K.
Thanks for sharing your memories, Steve. I’ve heard that since Colbert’s Fiesta has been gone, no other carnival has been able to get that spot in Manomet!
I love your blog. I have been obsessed with Coney Island for as long as I can remember. Thanks for pointing this all out to me!
thanks! your wordpress blog is nifty too. I love the concept and subtitle: A Crazy Lady’s Chronicle of Old and Noteworthy Buildings
I love your site, and I’d like to feature some of your writing on HeyRubeCircus.com. Keep up the good work, and please let me know if you have any preferred selections for me to highlight!
Thanks for writing, Noel. You cover some fun & freaky territory on your blog. Last year around this time, I did a post titled “Coney Island-Blog-O-Rama: Fave Blog Finds #1,” intending to make it an occasional feature. Perhaps I’ll revive it as Blog-O-Rama over the winter if time & space allow
https://amusingthezillion.com/2009/10/17/coney-island-o-rama-fave-blog-finds-1/
Interesting. I guess the closest interesting “park” island where I’ve lived would be:
Toronto Islands- just a 5 min. ferry ride from downtown waterfront. Had a small conession stand, rides, but also historically had cottages, boating. Now more for artsy, types with a few expensive places. Basically car-free so walking, jogging and cycling is fun. There are some waterfront boardwalks also.
Stanley Park in heart of Vancouver by the waterfront. Old growth, soaring trees with some gardens, beaches, aboriginal artwork plus some innovative outdoor artwork, hiking trails. It also used to belong to native Indians (Musqueam tribe) but they got kicked out, etc.
Of natural, cultural and historical value this park for Vancouver.
Keep blogging.
Thanks for commenting, Jean. I enjoyed reading your blogs about bicycling and Vancouver, too. And of course seeing what a fellow wordpress.com blogger is doing with the MistyLook theme.
Last time I visited Toronto, made it to the Distillery District, which is wonderful, but did not get a chance to visit Toronto Islands. Would love to visit Canada’s fairs, especially Calgary, the PNE & the CNE,and of course little country fairs.
hello Tricia my name is john and i too traveled with colberts fiesta my family was involved
as workers who were freinds of the colberts i worked first as a ball boy in the cat rack and the milk bottles then worked in the floss with ellie then moved to ride boy running the hellicopter ride for the kids we used to call them punk rides then i moved up to the major thrill rides which at the time was the tempest i traveled all summer with the show with a small suitcase and a sleepingbag sleeping in the back of tents and in the rocko-plane box
I know who your father was i used to go over there all the time and he would let me play for free that is if you are talking about the game with the disks and you had to cover the red spot i could never do it and then he would do it one try ok i am going down memory lane now and i might have the wrong family totally but i seem to remember they had a daughter named Donna ok thats it for now sorry about spelling and punct
JOHN
Tricia,
I’d like to add a personal comment and two photos to the Andy Badalamenti piece. How do I do this?
Larry R
Hi Larry,
You can comment on the thread at the bottom of th epost. The way to add a photo to the comment is to use a link from a photo-hosting site such a flickr or picasa.
For example on my flickr photos there is a tab that says “Grab the HTML/BBC code.” It is the same method for posting photos on a message boar
Tricia
Hi Tricia,
I came upon your blog via your nice story on the B&B carousell RFP. I wish I had time to go through and look at all the great stuff here, but as a one man magazine, time I have little of. I make The Carousel News & Trader. Yes, there is a monthly magazine about historic carousels, those still operating and those lost but not forgotten. We also venture into historic amusement parks as well. Three summers ago we did a long three part story on the major parks of Coney Island; Luna Park, Steeplechase and Dreamland, courtesy of Paul Brigandi. Incredibly fascinating I thought.
I unfortunately can not pay writers (I can hardly pay myself :), but possibly and article or some content from your site would be of interest to my readers, and in turn, bring more people to you site.
You can get an idea of the magazine at http://www.carouselnews.com.
Hope to hear from you,
Best regards,
Roland
I wanted to get across the fact that on http://www.nypost.com, under the brooklyn local section/coney island tab—-the city wants to demolish the bridge by the aquarium for a stupid new area for people to access the beach!!
nothing mentioned about the job they left in the lurch —the bridge itself when they were “trying” to fix it a few years ago.
please find the article, if not email me and i will send it to you, its horrible how they want to do this when everyone and their mother uses the bridge to get to the train, the subway and the street, also the boardwalk any time of the year, any time of weather.
the aquarium is not a 24 hour entrance, how will this work out for local residents like myself
What an exciting and interesting life! I’ve always been fascinated by Coney Island and old amusements. Thanks for sharing this with us!
i was wondering how you can delete a comment because i want to remove one of my previous comments. can you help?
I was able to find your comment and delete it. Check your email (perhaps the spam folder?), I sent you a message.
My name is Geoff Dale, a Canadian author. I’m currently writing a biography on Shemp Howard, one of the original Three Stooges who did a lot of theatre in the early 20th century. I was wondering if any of the publications have any information of Shemp. My email is geoff_dale@sympatico.ca
No, sorry I have not written about The Three Stooges on my blog. Good luck with your book!
Tricia, I have a Fred Johnson poster portrait done of my Grandmother in 1950. I would like to preserve it and get it appraised. Do you know of anyone that is familiar with his work that could help me with this process?