Several weeks ago I watched the two episodes which featured the carnival
coming to Mayberry. It brought back wonderful memories of my childhood and
the fun I had at carnivals. It reminded me that when I was in high school I
had the opportunity to work for a carnival for a summer. However, my mother
did not allow me to go, so alas I missed out on that experience. The
carnival I wanted to work at was owned by the family of a high school
friend of mine who I grew up with. His family originated in Germany and
owned the Skerbeck circus and then brought the circus to American in the
late eighteen hundreds. My friend is now the owner of the Skerbeck
Amusements which is based in Escanaba Michigan. I have not seen my friend
Joe for 46 years so these Mayberry episodes motivated me to try to locate
him. It was actually very simple. I did a search on the web for Skerbeck
Amusements and found he was still based in Escanaba. It just so happened
that we were going to be going through Escanaba on our way to a family
reunion. So I left a message on the Skerbeck website saying I would love to
be able to see Joe again if he was going to be in Escanaba that weekend.
Well, to make a long story even longer, I received a message back giving me
his cell phone number. So last weekend I called Joe and we stopped in to
see him. I was surprised to find that his wife was the cute little blonde
girl who lived down the street from me all during my childhood. We had a
wonderful visit. Next year he will be back in Escanaba for the State Fair
on the weekend we will be going through again, so we are planning on taking
an extra day so we can spend a day at the Fair. Joe said he would take us
all around and show us his operation. It is not your typical carnival
atmosphere. Joe is a devout Christian and he instills his Christian and
small town values into all he does and that carries onto his employees. I
keep marveling at all the wonderful things that have come about in my life
just because of tags.
"Lots of luck to you and yours."
Ken Anderson
2906 May Street
Eau Claire, WI 54701
[email protected]
www.mayberryreflections.com
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