Whether it’s the Strawberry Go Round, the Dive Bomber, the Merry-Go-Round or one of the oldest mobile Ferris wheels still running, for Larry Fosgate of Las Vegas, Nev. it’s all about the kids.

“I like working with the little tykes,” Fosgate said. “They’re incredibly honest. They let you know if they don’t like something immediately.”

Fosgate and his three-man crew were busy setting up the seven Kiddie Land amusement rides on the midway of this year’s Island County Fair in Langley.

The fair officially runs Thursday through Sunday. The 4-H events begin today.

The rides for the younger set are among a dozen colorful thrill machines of various intensity brought to the fair by Paradise Amusements, based in Post Falls, Idaho.

The carnival is fresh from appearances in Oregon and Eastern Washington.

Making kids smile is one of the biggest benefits of working at the carnival, Fosgate said.

He said most of the younger children particularly like the Dive Bomber, a spinning circle of small and colorful airplanes.

“It’s one of the faster rides, and it goes up and down,” he said.

Children also like the Strawberry Go Round, the individual units of which can be spun by their occupants as the ride moves in a circle. And they like the Ferris wheel, which dates back to the 1950s.

Fosgate said safety is the most important concern. Spacing is always maintained to allow for riders who like to stick out their arms or their heads, he said.

He said each ride is equipped with a foot-pedal kill switch that allows the operator to stop the ride immediately by lifting a foot if trouble occurs. And redundancy is built in, he added.

“We try to make a ride as idiot-proof as possible,” Fosgate said.

“If there’s an issue, we shut it down and take care of it, or shut it down and tear it down if we can’t.”

He said the most unusual thing with a ride that he has encountered was the 14-year-old boy who got stuck between the pads of the Gravitron, and spinner that operates on centrifugal force.

He said the youth met the height requirement to ride, but was so thin that he became wedged in a six-inch space between the pads as the ride spun rapidly.

“We had to use soap to get him out,” Fosgate said. “The only thing hurt was his pride.”

Fosgate, 61, said he has been with the carnival company for about nine months. For most of his adult life he was a merchant seaman, he said.

“Rigging and things like that are all part of my nature,” he said. “I had the skills they needed, and they had the diversion I needed. It was a good fit.”

Fosgate said the carnival operates mostly year round, with a summer schedule including Montana west to Oregon and Washington, and a winter schedule in southern Nevada and Arizona.

Although he has been to Anacortes, this is his first visit to Whidbey Island.

“I’m quite impressed,” Fosgate said. “I’ve been to Vashon. That seems to be a little more high-rent.”

He said the carnival has about 30 people working in Langley, and another crew working at Friday Harbor.

He said he spends his free time catching up by phone and on the Internet with his wife back in Las Vegas, his four grown children, his three grandchildren and his friends.

His grandchildren are thrilled with his job, he said. “Family members get to ride free.”

Fosgate said the company sometimes picks up new employees along the way, people looking for adventure or a change of scene.

“We gain people, but lose two-thirds of them in a month,” he said.

“It’s not as glamorous as they thought it would be.”

What’s next?

“That’s hard to say,” Fosgate said, setting up a section of protective fencing on a warm, sunny afternoon. “I may do this until I drop.”