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(ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Visitors to the Graham Lions Club Carnival in 2024 ride the merry-go-round on the downtown square. The carnival will be held in the same location May 10-13 opening each day at 5:30 p.m. -
(ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Games, rides, food and more will be available at the Graham Lions Club Carnival that will head downtown May 10-13. Some of the food selections include German sausage, corn dogs and funnel cakes.
A local tradition for over 50 years, the Graham Lions Club Carnival will be returning to the downtown square next week with rides, games, food and more.
The carnival started in 1974 with the only one year missed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be returning downtown May 7-10 opening at 5:30 p.m. each day.
Lions Club Member and Carnival Chairman Jim Senkel has been involved since the beginning of the carnival in Graham. He said while some try to put a closing time for the event, the club tries to keep it open as long as possible.
“As long as people are there wanting to do stuff, I try to stay open. On Wednesday and Thursday night, we’ll be shut down probably by 10 p.m., maybe a little bit later,” he said. “As long as people are there wanting to do stuff, we’re going to be open.”
A major part of the carnival is the German sausage that is for sale. What started with only 250-300 sausages has now expanded to where the organizers bring in 5,500 sausages from Opa’s Smoked Meats and Gourmet Foods in Fredericksburg.
Senkel will transport 40 cases of frozen sausages for the event which will be available both individually and cooked and uncooked in bulk. Each year the club also has a drive-thru lane to drive by the carnival and purchase sausages.
Sales of the German sausages, funnel cakes and corn dogs stay in Graham and support causes from the organization as well as a portion of ticket sales at the event.
Funds raised at the carnival go to causes such as PK Relays, eye screenings for children, the Texas Lions Camp for Disabled Children, the Honors Banquet for Graham High School seniors, scholarships for GHS seniors and other programs.
“We screen well in excess of 8,000 kids every year to see if they need glasses or not. We just recommend them to go see an optometrist,” Senkel said. “...Any child, especially in the Graham area, but sometimes even outside the Graham area, and adults, if they need glasses and they can’t afford them, we have a program where we will do an eye exam and glasses for anybody that needs them.”
The first carnival took place when a storm blew through the area and knocked down the light standards at the GHS stadium.
The carnival was a way for the club to fund the construction of the district’s first all-weather track.
The downtown location is something that Senkel said is important to the carnival and the event itself is something that has been special to the community for years.
“Loren Maples was the man that brought in the carnival originally. One of his favorite things to talk about was that, for some people, this is their big time,” Senkel said. “They don’t have the capability, the time or the finances to go to Disney World, Disneyland or even get to Six Flags. For a lot of people, this is their big event.”
