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Pony Rides Part Deux
Oct. 12th, 2019 06:22 pmAgain with the damn pony rides. We were short-handed today because it's Homecoming Weekend for a lot of the local schools and the useful-sized girls who do pony rides also want to get dolled up and go to Homecoming. Also, it was Fall Foliage Queen contest and half the girls are in that damn circus, too, so they had to go do that.
While pony rides are a decent fundraiser, it takes a lot of people to do pony rides. One person keeps the till and hands out / collects helmets with disposable shower cap liners (head lice are a real thing). One person mans the loading stairs. One person mans the unloading stairs. (The loading stairs job can be combined, but that's exhausting for the person doing it.) Each pony needs a pony-leader and a pony-walker. The pony leader leads the pony. The pony walker walks alongside and sees to it that the tiny tot stays on the pony instead of developing a starboard list en route to the ground. (Sometimes this is a Bigger Tot problem. You cannot assume that Bigger Tots will stay vertically oriented on the pony.) So, if you're doing three ponies, your BASE crew size is 9, 8 if you absolutely have to do it that way. If anyone would like a bathroom break or a chance to sit down to eat lunch, you will need more people.
Last weekend we had Sunday and it was cool and grey, spitting tiny amounts of rain here and there. Crowds were light. This weekend, we had Saturday. It cleared up nicely by around 10 AM and was pleasant the rest of the day. The pony rides never stopped. We didn't have a massive huge line, but we never ever had a chance to stop moving and sit. From 9 AM to 5 PM, I sat down twice. I was peeing both times. Lunch was a sausage sandwich in one hand and a pony lead rope in the other. I ate while walking. Fitbit says I did 13.1 miles, which sounds about right. My dogs are barking and no lie.
We cleared $1500 in twenties. The keeper of the till didn't count anything but the twenties. We'll get a complete total tonight on facebook. But, assuming we had nine people for eight solid hours (we did not), we earned about $20.00 an hour per person. That's not too bad for a rinky dink pony ride concession at a tiny little fall foliage festival in Greater Rednecklandia.
While pony rides are a decent fundraiser, it takes a lot of people to do pony rides. One person keeps the till and hands out / collects helmets with disposable shower cap liners (head lice are a real thing). One person mans the loading stairs. One person mans the unloading stairs. (The loading stairs job can be combined, but that's exhausting for the person doing it.) Each pony needs a pony-leader and a pony-walker. The pony leader leads the pony. The pony walker walks alongside and sees to it that the tiny tot stays on the pony instead of developing a starboard list en route to the ground. (Sometimes this is a Bigger Tot problem. You cannot assume that Bigger Tots will stay vertically oriented on the pony.) So, if you're doing three ponies, your BASE crew size is 9, 8 if you absolutely have to do it that way. If anyone would like a bathroom break or a chance to sit down to eat lunch, you will need more people.
Last weekend we had Sunday and it was cool and grey, spitting tiny amounts of rain here and there. Crowds were light. This weekend, we had Saturday. It cleared up nicely by around 10 AM and was pleasant the rest of the day. The pony rides never stopped. We didn't have a massive huge line, but we never ever had a chance to stop moving and sit. From 9 AM to 5 PM, I sat down twice. I was peeing both times. Lunch was a sausage sandwich in one hand and a pony lead rope in the other. I ate while walking. Fitbit says I did 13.1 miles, which sounds about right. My dogs are barking and no lie.
We cleared $1500 in twenties. The keeper of the till didn't count anything but the twenties. We'll get a complete total tonight on facebook. But, assuming we had nine people for eight solid hours (we did not), we earned about $20.00 an hour per person. That's not too bad for a rinky dink pony ride concession at a tiny little fall foliage festival in Greater Rednecklandia.
