Broomall Fire Company discontinues annual spring fundraiser carnival due to rowdy behavior
BROOMALL, Pa. - A longtime Delaware County community carnival has served its last cotton candy.
Ongoing problems with rowdy teenagers and vandalism in recent years forced the Broomall Fire Company to discontinue the annual spring fundraiser carnival that's been a staple in the Marple Township community for nearly 30 years.
April Else’s Cynwyd Avenue backyard backs up to the field where the carnival is held every April. Her son Miles and daughter Stella look forward to the weeks before and during the carnival.
"Miles will watch the carnival get set up right back here" said Else.
Last weekend the family spent 2 days at the Carnival not knowing it would be the last.
In a social media post, the Broomall Fire Company announced "We have made the difficult decision to discontinue our annual fundraiser carnival."
"I loved their gyros and pizzas and cotton candy" said R. Wilson of Broomall.
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The longtime Broomall resident remembers bringing her son to the carnival when he was a teenager. He’s now 46 years old. She’s disappointed the community event is gone but more concerned about the financial impact of a lost fundraiser.
"I’m very sad now this fire department needs those funds, it’s a volunteer fire department" said Wilson.
The announcement said "In recent years, we have taken significant steps to mitigate these issues, including earlier closing times, the installation of fencing around the carnival grounds and bolstering security measures with additional police presence. Regrettably, despite these efforts, complaints regarding attendee behavior concerningly persists."
Marple Township Police told FOX 29 the nearby McDonald's had to close their doors during the carnival this weekend because of large groups of teens.
Police also responded to a teenager who walked into the home of a family while filming a social media stunt.
Problems the Else family hadn’t seen before, despite living next door. They’re just disappointed their backyard carnival left town for good. Now it’s just an empty lot.
"Honestly, it felt like a real good community event that we held and people from the area knew we had, and it funded our fire department" said Else.
The Broomall Fire Company says fire service has not been impacted and are now looking into a new fundraiser they hope will also benefit the community.