Ottaway Amusement Co. is closing, but there is a bright spot

At a time of year that Ottaway Amusement Co. is usually gearing up for its April through November carnival season, owner Danny Ottaway is dismantling his company.

“There is sadness, but you know, I have to say this: I’ve come to grips with the fact that everything comes to an end one day or another,” he said.

There is a bright spot, though.

Ottaway’s niece, Laney Heiberg, and her husband, Shaun, purchased three of the rides and have formed Ottaway Legacy Shows.

They will partner with Dodge City-based Weee Entertainment on carnivals. Weee owner Chris Williamson’s grandfather, Walt Foster, owned Foster and Ottaway Shows in the 1960s with Laney Heiberg’s grandfather, Bob Ottaway, who was Danny Ottaway’s father.

“So everything’s coming full circle,” she said.

Still, Danny Ottaway said he had hoped to sell his company intact to someone who would keep the name, and he almost did that except the buyer couldn’t get financing. He had told Ottaway his intention was to keep the Ottaway name.

“This was his very words: He said, “I’m feeling as if I’m buying a brand.’

“My family has spent, gosh, five decades building a route that consists of all the major county fairs . . . and celebrations in Kansas and northern Oklahoma.”

That was about 30 different sites annually.

Ottaway’s great-grandfather, L.A. Ottaway, started the company in 1944.

“In those days, he was building miniature steam trains,” Danny Ottaway said.

“In time, Harold Chance of Chance Manufacturing bought the train company from my family, and then my family — my great-granddad and his three sons — then (built) Joyland Amusement Park.”

Ottaway said his father didn’t see an opportunity to grow with Joyland, and that’s when he and Foster, who had been working at the park, partnered.

Danny Ottaway, who is 64 and in great health, grew up in the business.

“I’ve not missed a season on the carnival circuit since I was 6 years old. It’s all I’ve ever done.”

At age 10, he sold tickets for 25 cents each.

Everyone asks Ottaway why he’s retiring if he feels so great.

“I tell them that’s the very reason I’m retiring at this time.”

He said he has a young wife and two teenage daughters.

“I want to experience something other than (carnivals) before I check out,” Ottaway said.

“I have no regrets. . . . I feel as if I’ve put millions and millions of smiles on people’s faces.”

Years ago, two of Ottaway’s carnival truck drivers were in a collision together when one followed too closely behind the other. Both had to be towed, and Ottaway felt like the tow truck driver was unreasonably pricey.

“You know, I kind of feel sorry for you,” he told the driver. “You capitalize on others’ misfortunes. My entire life, I’ve been in a business where I’ve been making people happy.”

Ottaway said he got paid to help people make memories.

“We made a lot of memories.”

The downside of the carnival circuit is that “it’s seven days a week for seven months,” Ottaway said. “And many times grueling hours.”

The rest of the year is spent repairing equipment.

Ottaway is proud of his safety record.

“I’m very, very happy to say that we have never seriously injured anyone,” he said. “The majority of our injuries have been trips and falls.”

The midway life

Danny Ottaway has 18 rides, 10 game concessions and three food concessions and is about 70% done selling them.

Weee Entertainment purchased five rides.

In addition to the three rides the Heibergs purchased from Ottaway, Laney Heiberg said she and her husband hope to buy rides from elsewhere to expand their business.

“Well, I grew up out on the midway with Ottaway,” she said. “I was raised out there.”

Her parents, Chris and Vicki Flattery, owned the business with Ottaway until 2017, when they retired due to Chris Flattery’s health.

“If it was up to them, they would still be out there, so this was a really, I guess, touching tribute to them to want to keep this going.”

The Heibergs taught English in South Korea for a year and “then just decided we really missed being out on the road and missed the carnival life,” Laney Heiberg said.

They bought a food trailer and worked with another carnival operation.

“When the opportunity came up to really revive a part of my family’s business, we jumped at it,” she said.

Heiberg said she thinks her grandfather would “be very proud. He was a true showman and just really enjoyed this business and making people happy.”

“It’s a hard lifestyle, but it’s one that it brings you a lot of joy.”

Ottaway expects to still spend a lot of time on the carnival circuit this year helping Weee and the new Ottaway company.

“I’ve agreed to be there for them this season on an as-needed basis.”

Ottaway calls himself a carny.

“I’m not embarrassed of it. My dad’s personalized license plate read ‘Carny.’

“Some might say that it’s a, oh, derogatory moniker.”

Not Ottaway.

“Carny is a carnival worker, and that’s what I was, gosh, almost 50 years.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 2:32 PM.