What's newButler Amusements brings rides, games
It’s Grape Festival time, and for many kids and adults, that means it’s amusement ride time.
The Revolution is just one of the carnival rides being provided by Butler
Amusements at this year’s Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair which
will run from Sept. 16-19. (Courtesy photo)
From a Ferris wheel to a haunted house, the variety of rides and entertainment at this year’s Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair is bound to please most visitors.
That’s the goal of Butler Amusements, which bills itself as the largest carnival company in the Western United States.
The family run company got its start in 1970 at a shopping center in Mountain View, and it now works with more than 100 events each year.
The Lodi Grape Festival is a standard event for the amusement company, and it’s actually one of three fairs being held the weekend of Sept. 16 through Sept. 19, said Andrea Owen, marketing director for Butler Amusements.
But the difference between Lodi’s festival and the events in Spokane, Wash. and Las Vegas, Nev. is that two units will be working the Grape Festival, while only one unit is needed at each of the other events.
Large rides coming to Lodi include the Footloose, which was made in Italy and is one of only four such rides in the country. Riders sit with their legs free, then spin upside down to a height of 57 feet beneath the light of 1,000 bulbs.
For those wishing to rise even higher, the new Star Dancer reaches a height of 101 feet as it gives riders a view of the whole fair and parts of Lodi.
Other thrill rides include Evolution, Himalaya, Spin Out, Starship 2000, Vortex and Zipper.
Rides for those who don’t want quite as much excitement include the classic Ferris Wheel and the haunted house known as the Graveyard. Others are Tilt-A-Whirl, Scrambler, Super Slide, Rock-N-Roll, Carousel, and Whirlwind.
Kiddie rides will include Wacky Worm, Big Foot Trucks, Dizzy Dragons, Surf City, Dragon Wagon, Kid Swing, Noah’s Lark, Silver Streak, Cycle Jump and Roadster.
The Vortex is just one of the carnival rides being provided by Butler
Amusements at this year’s Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair which
will run from Sept. 16-19. (Courtesy photo)
Butler Amusements, with more than 100 rides, started out as just a family interest.
When founder Bud Butler was raising his family in Minnesota, he’d take his 13-year-old son, Butch Butler, to work at carnivals on the weekends.
He began buying rides, and the family moved to California in 1960. Butch Butler stayed behind to attend college, but still worked carnivals in the summers. Seven years later, he took his wife and daughters to California.
Father and son joined forces, and they bought a small carnival in 1969. Their first venture in the shopping center followed months later, and that winter they signed their first fair contract.
Two years later, they had contracts for a dozen fairs, and the company went from there.
Today, three generations of Butlers work for the company, doing everything from running food concessions to booking shows and handling payroll.
And, once again, they’ll be back in Lodi for the annual Grape Festival.
And, once again, they’ll be back in Lodi for the annual Grape Festival.
Individual ride tickets will be on sale throughout the festival, as will bracelets that let the wearer on an unlimited number of rides.
Bracelets at the fair cost $25, but pre-sale bracelets for $20 will be on sale until the end of the business day Sept. 16.
“That’s a huge savings, because some of the rides cost as much as $3,” said Festival President Mark Armstrong.
“You can go on 500 rides if you’re fast enough.”
