The Flat Joint Links
These first set of links are of great amusement industry and fair links. The second set are of the people who have supported the site and provided us with images and information. Click here to scroll down to our "Thanks!" list of contributors and links.
Absolutely Reliable News & Rumors: Everything you need to know about the amusement park industry (i.e. The Onion of the amusement park world, full of fun satire).
Amusement Business: The only weekly news on carnivals, fairs and amusement parks worldwide.
Amusement One Link Source: The best amusement industry link site on the net.
Amusement Park History: This is our sister site. It focuses on the history of amusement parks and the industry that supports it, with a special emphasis on Coney Island, roller coasters and carousels.
Amusement Rides.De: Thrillrider's Transportable Rides Collection: A great site with videos and images of the European carnival market (German text).
Carter's Steam Fair: Arguably the best-kept carnival in the world. This group has a beautiful collection of antique rides that travels the U.K.
Chemung County Fair: This site has lots of pictures of Strates Shows playing this New York fair from 1967 through 1991.
Chris Hurley's Webshots Albums: Hundreds of pictures of carnivals throughout America. He has four sites, one, two, three and four be sure to enjoy all of them.
Dave Burton's Amusement Ride Extravaganza: Dave has assembled a wealth of information on amusement rides and the Australian world of traveling amusements.
Favos.Nl: A great collection of links to various rides around the world, both to piece owners and various fan sites.
Funfair.Lu: This site has information in English, French and German about carnivals (funfairs) throughout Europe.
Hully Gully.De: Named after the famous Mack ride, this site has lots of in-depth photos of some of Germany's most famous spectacular rides.
Hully Gully.Nl: This is a great site from the Netherlands that has information on rides of all kinds.
Kermis Web.NL: Another fun site from the Netherlands with loads of pictures from fairs all over Europe. Be sure to check out the great Oktoberfest section.
Kirmes & Park Revue: A German magazine that covers the Kirmes (Carnival) scene in that country with some amusement park reporting (German text).
Kirmes Journal: A site covering the German carnival industry (German text).
Kirmes Platz.Com: A great place with videos and information on Germany's world of portable rides (German text).
Lawrie's Carnival & Amusement Park Pages: Lawrie has a lot of information about the amusement parks and carnivals of Finland.
Master.com: This site provides us with free search capabilities. If you are looking to add something simple at your site look no further.
Matt's Carnival Warehouse: Arguably the best site for the American carnival scene.
The Outdoor Amusement Business Association: The trade association of the American carnival industry.
Royal American Shows: A short history of the most revered carnival in American history.
SkyBrian.De: Brian has some amazing photos of fairs all around Germany.
Star Gate 64.De: This site, in German, has information and photos of fairs all over the country and lots of great German rides.
Strates Shows- The Chase: A series of pictures where a photographer chases the famous Strates Shows train.
"Surf Dance" Chris' Amusement Rides Website: Chris features lots of information on park and carnival rides, especially Reithoffer's Flip "N" Out.
Tilt-A-Whirl Tribute- Fi has put together a fitting tribute to one of the longest running (or is it spinning?) rides on the American midway- the Tilt.
Ultimate Rollercoaster: The best site for roller coasters on the Internet and our gracious hosts.
Vergnuegungsbetriebe.Com: A fun site with lots of on-ride videos of flat rides (German text).
Victor Canefield's Patent Site: Victor has assembled a wealth of information to make one of the most academic looks at flat ride and roller coaster history. Be sure to visit his site to learn more about the history of these great attractions.
Wipeout: The First Rides Database: One of the best listing of rides from manufacturers worldwide that I have come across (French text).
Thanks!
To see everything everyone donated simply do a search of the site for their name.
Elizabeth Aslakson: Elizabeth provided some great shots from the Jackson County Fair in Michigan.
Lance Bair: Lance was kind enough to provide us with a picture of the elusive Eli Bridge Cycloid along with some pics of his own rides, the King Frolic and Parachute. Visit his website here.
Mike Bartlett: Mike gave us some great shots of the ride collection at Six Flags New England.
Nathan Brown: I asked Nathan for a picture of the Lake Compounce Rotor and he came through with lots of great pictures. Visit his website here.
George Burnash: George gave us some great shots of the 2005 Florida State Fair. Visit his website here.
Robert Cashour: Robert was one of the first to approach us with images and has been a great help. He donated pictures to the following pages: Chance Aviator, Chance Chaos, Huss Condor, Larson Crazy Train, Zamperla Energy Storm 3, Huss Flipper, Huss Jump and the KMG/Tivoli Spin Out.
Chance Rides/Chance Morgan: Chance provided us with many shots of their rides, including several that are sadly no longer common on the American midway: Olympic Bobs, Radar, Space Shuttle and Turbo.
Crazyspin: Andrew gave us some great shots so we could create pages of the Soriani & Moser Top Star Tour and Moser Gravity Tower. In addition, he supplemented our photos for the Chance Thunderbolt, Fabbri Kamikaze and Tivoli Scorpion. Visit his website here.
Fabbri: This company provided us with some photos of their Contact. Visit their website here.
Mitch Francisco: Mitch provided us with some enjoyable daytime shots of the Loop-o-Plane in Keansburg, New Jersey.
Gerstlauer Elektro GmbH: This companies gave us some great photos of their Dancing Pavilion, 50 Meter Wheel and 60 Meter Wheel. Visit their website here.
Robert Wade Jackson: Wade let us use a great dusk shot of the Intamin Space Shuttle.
KMG/International Ride Services: They were kind enough to let us use one picture for the Afterburner page. Visit their website here.
Sam Kislevitz: Sam let us use his picture of the Rock-N-Roll Matterhorn.
Nate Kohlrusch: Nate let us use pictures for our KMG Experience and Mondial Shake pages. Visit his website here.
Larson International: Jeff Novotny and the crew at Larson have done a great job bringing back the classic Flying Scooter. In fact, they let us use their pictures for our Flying Scooter page. Visit their website here.
Greg Legowski: Greg let us use his pictures of the Anton Schwarzkopf Apollo 14 and the Chance Morgan Revolution 32. Visit his website here.
Stefan Merkl: Stefan shared some great shots of some beautiful European pieces.
Matthew McCoy: Matthew offered up some stellar shots of Mid-America Shows and helped pad our Ride Index with photos of the Sellner Dizzy Dragons, Larson Ring of Fire, Eyerly Spider, Chance 28-Foot Carousel and the Chance Zipper. Visit his website here.
Mondial Fair Attractions: Mondial was kind enough to give us pictures of their new-for-2003 attraction, the Ultra Max. Visit their website here.
Joe Nardone: Joe gave us this great picture of the Huss Tristar. Visit his website here.
Mike Newton: Mike sent us a nice night pic of the Childress Expo Wheel.
Dainan Rafferty: Dainan was kind enough to give us pictures of North America's only Top Spin2. Visit his website here.
Mike Reiss: Blue Sky Amusements', owned by Mike's family, has a beautiful Chance Alpine Bobs that he was willing to share pictures of. Visit their website here.
Mark Rosenzweig: Mark's pictures of the Florida State Fair were a great addition to the site. In addition to those he supplied our Oktoberfest section and lots of other ride photos.
Ken Rutherford: Ken provided us with some great pictures of Watkins Rampage. Visit his website here.
Kyle Shick: Kyle came to us with pictures of the Bussink Evolution and added to it.
Cameron Silver: Cam gave us some unique shots from "Down Under." He supplied us with images for the Meisho Twin Dragon, Vekoma Sky Flyer and Vekoma Waikiki Wave Super Flip. Visit his website here.
Gary Slade: Gary, publisher of Amusement Today, was kind enough to provide us with three great pictures of the S&S Sky Swatter.
Ryan Snooks: Ryan came through and let us use tons of pictures for the Ride Index. In addition, he donated all the pictures for our pages on the San Diego County Fair.
"Surf Dance" Chris: The expert on the "Flip N Out" let us use pictures of the Huss Ranger, Soriani & Moser Super Loop on Top and the Mondial Super Nova. Visit his website here.
Lauri Vartiainen: Lauri gave us a lot of pictures from the parks and carnivals of Finland, including: Huss Troika, Sartori Twister, Soriani & Moser Polyp, Soriani & Moser Super Telecombat and Zierer Viking. Visit his website here.
Jakob Wahl: Jakob gave us some great shots of two fairs in France he attended.
Wood Design: This company provided us with some photos of their Wave Swing. Visit their website here.
Zamperla: This company provided us with some great shots of their new ride, the Nitro. Visit their website here.
