For Charlene and Guy Leavitt, life really is
fun and games. Married for nearly 30 years, the Leavitts, members of
Mountain View Lutheran Church, Phoenix, own possibly the country’s
largest carnival—Ray Cammack Shows.
 |
| Charlene
and Guy Leavitt set up their carrousel at 11 events each year, as they
take their second-generation carnival on the road in the Southwest. |
Just
how large is their operation, known to most as RCS? The carnival, which
travels to 11 events annually in California, Arizona and Texas, has 15
food stands, 55 rides and 33 games. It takes 165 trucks and 110 RVs to
haul the business and more than 1,200 employees to move RCS from one
venue to the next.
The main attractions are two roller
coasters and the largest portable Ferris wheel in the Western
Hemisphere, standing 160-feet tall and capable of carrying 244 people
at a time.
The carnival’s size is a far cry from its tiny
beginnings. Charlene and Guy each inherited their fathers’ carnivals.
Guy’s dad, Harley Leavitt, was a home builder who traded a residence
for a merry-go-round. Ray Cammack, Charlene’s dad, sold cars near a
neighbor who owned a carnival.
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