‘Just not fair’

I am taking a moment to write this before all of the unending letters come rolling in about how wonderful Applefest was this year.

I have been a resident of Warwick for five years; four of those five years I have volunteered at one of the booths during Applefest. This is the first year, however, that I brought my young daughter over to the rides and games. I have to say I am really disgusted by the obscene amount of money charged per person for those ridiculous, old dilapidated rides! Five dollars per ride is absurd, especially for something as simple as a slide!

I was standing next to a mom who was there with five kids. She could not believe the cost of the rides either and stood there wondering how she could afford to put her kids on the rides. She would have had to spend $25 just for her kids to use the slide alone!

That’s just not fair!

The games were just as bad: Five dollars to throw three balls at a target! The man kept shouting that “Everyone was a winner!” My daughter didn’t hit any of the three targets, but the man did reach into his dirty old basket for a prize. The prize, however, was no prize; it is what I consider to be drug paraphernalia which actually looks used. It is rusty and dirty.

Doesn’t anyone from the Applefest Planning Committee check on the vendors that they hire? Does anyone from the committee do a walk through to see what types of prizes these people are handing out? Who sets the prices on these rides and games and why doesn’t the committee negotiate to get a better price per ride than what is currently being charged?

We always thought Applefest was supposed to be a fun, family-friendly festival and my daughter and I were extremely disappointed to find out we were wrong.

Kathleen Messano

Warwick