by Mary Loden and Ashley Weiss
This year marks Evans United’s 50th anniversary of bringing carnival rides and fun to the multi-day celebration in Clear Lake that has anchored family get-togethers and class reunions for decades.
The Evans family will be recognized as the 2023 parade grand marshal during the celebration on July 4th. The theme of this year’s parade is “Decades of Fun.”
Dozens of lighted and musical carnival rides, concessions and games wrap around City Park in the heart of downtown with the beautiful backdrop of the lake.
“It’s a postcard, the setup, the setting. It’s not like any other event,” said Erin Evans-Phipps, granddaughter of Evans United Shows founders Bill and Ruth Evans, and who has been involved with the carnival her entire life. “Clear Lake’s the greatest. There’s no better place to be on the Fourth.”
“Clear Lake’s always been special to us. We’ve made a lot of friends over the years,” said Tom Evans, who has been running the family business with his wife, Nancy, since the untimely death of his parents, Bill and Ruth, in the early 1970s. “It’s a great town.”
Bill and Ruth Evans, of Plattsburg, Mo. started Evans United Shows carnival in 1947. They were introduced to Clear Lake in the early 1970s, when they arrived in town to purchase several rides from a business that was to be their Clear Lake Fourth of July predecessor.
Just a few years later, Tom and Nancy, still relatively newlyweds, took over the carnival’s operations and brought Evans United Shows to Clear Lake in 1974 for their first Fourth of July celebration there. They have been returning ever since.
Tom, Nancy and Tom’s brother, Jim, built and expanded the family carnival business exponentially in the following decades. The entire Evans family mourned the death of Jim in 2019.
“It’s pretty impressive to look at what they’ve done over the course of all these years,” Erin said about her parents who were in their early 20s at the time. “I’m proud of them. It’s a big accomplishment what my mom and dad created.”
Erin, who will be 46 this year, said her dad made sure she learned how to work. Her first job with the carnival was scooping popcorn and packaging cotton candy at about 7-years-old, which then progressed to filling up drinks and then working a ticket window.
Erin and her younger sister, Emily, spent summers on the road with the carnival and Fourth of Julys in Clear Lake. She recalls swimming in the lake, shopping at the Ben Franklin store, eating at the Backyard Deli, and one of her favorites, enjoying Shirley Temples and onion rings at the Ritz Club.
“We grew up in Iowa,” Erin said. “It’s where we’ve spent every summer of our lives.” She only recalls missing two Fourth of July celebrations in Clear Lake since she was born.
Years after her introduction to the concession trailer business Erin met her “summertime friend” and “buddy,” Jason Phipps, while working at the cotton candy trailer. The couple have been married for more than 10 years now and Jason is the carnival manager, the one Tom counts on and has put in charge of day-to-day operations.
When Erin was in junior high and Emily was in elementary school, their mother, Nancy, invited her high school friend, Pat Cates, to spend one summer with the carnival after she lost both her parents unexpectedly. “That year is still going on,” Pat said with a chuckle.
She has worked with Evans United in various capacities for more than 40 years and credits the carnival’s survival to Tom and Nancy’s management. Evans United Shows, like many in the entertainment industry, was forced to pause its operations in March 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Evans only did six shows that year, and there was no trip to Iowa.
“It was rough on everybody,” Tom said. “We were open a month and waited for the curve to flatten. We were stable enough to stay in business but a lot weren’t, a lot of carnivals have quit within the last two or three years.”
Pat is no longer on the road with the carnival its entire season. “Nancy is more of a trooper than I am. She’s on the road all year long,” Pat said. “I pick and choose, but I wouldn’t miss Clear Lake for the world. As a matter of fact, my social calendar for Clear Lake is filling up as we speak.”
“We have as many friends in the Clear Lake, Mason City area as we do at home. And it’s people we continue to talk to throughout the year,” Pat said. “We may not see them, but we get a text or a phone call to see where we’re at, how we’re doing, and it just means the world to us that people care that much. That’s truly the heart of Clear Lake, those people are so dear.”
Pat Cates isn’t the only friend the Evans have convinced to come to Clear Lake with the carnival for the “biggest and best Fourth of July in the United States” over the years. In fact, they’ve had many come and work and return year after year.
Ann Owsley, whose mother taught with Nancy, was Erin and Emily’s summer time babysitter in their younger years. Ann pursued her own career, but continued to help out at the carnival when she could. She eventually returned as Evans United’s full-time office manager. Her son, Evan, is also involved with the carnival. They’ve hardly missed any trips to Clear Lake for the Fourth of July.
And, of course, the Fourth of July celebrations wouldn’t be what they are today without Alice Hanley, Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce board member, former board president and chairperson of the July Fourth committee for over 26 years.
She is proud that Clear Lake now has a very broad range of events that take place each year, ”But the 4th of July has always been that tradition where friends and family that have moved far away, they come back, because there is nothing quite like Clear Lake on a Fourth of July. It really is like a Norman Rockwell [painting], a step back in time,” she said.
Alice, who said she’s honored to be among the Evans family’s wide circle of friends, explained the close bond between Clear Lakers and the Evans family, including carnival workers. “They are truly kind of like our extended family because we see them every year. They see us every year. They watch the kids grow, then the grandkids. It’s multigenerational people coming to the event.” she said.
“They are generous, caring, and unpretentious, never expecting any praise or recognition. They take great pride in making a positive difference in the community. Evans United Shows makes special memories for kids and grown-ups of all ages,” she said. “It’s been my privilege to help with the Fourth of July celebration and get to know the Evans family. What can I say? I love ‘em!”
Evans United Shows owns the rides and contracts the games on the midway, but they don’t own all of the food concessions. Some are privately owned and operated. Three of those concession trailers, owned by Jack McBurney, will be returning to Clear Lake this year – but without their owner. Jack McBurney died in February of this year at his home in Denver, Colo.
According to Pat Cates, who knew him well, Jack started working for Ruth Evans at the Evans United Shows carnival while he was still in high school in Eddyville, Iowa in Mahaska County. “She had a food concession and when the carnival came to his hometown Jack became dear friends with Ruth,” Pat said. “She met his mother, and they became friends, and as a result Jack wanted to come on the road. Ruth needed the help, and his mother thought that might be a good fit for him. That’s where his life in the carnival business began.”
Pat said that Jack would travel with Evans United all summer long and in the spring and fall he had other events that he booked on his own. Some of his other venues included the May Fest and Tulsa State Fair in Tulsa, Okla. and the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colo. But, according to his obituary, his two favorites were the Clear Lake Fourth of July celebration and the Iowa State Fair.
Due to health issues, Jack hasn’t traveled a lot for the last 20 years, “… but he was out on the road for a good 30 plus years,” Pat commented. “He is dearly missed and we loved him dearly. He was such a part of Evan United Shows and the Evans family that it’s a real tough deal. And I know that some of his dearest friends live in Clear Lake.”
A carnival in Clear Lake wouldn’t be a carnival without the Ferris wheel. This year, the Ferris wheel will arrive with a new LED light package including 16 patterns that Tom said will look great on a ride that attracts people of all ages, year after year.
In addition to ride favorites, such as the Tilt-A-Whirl, Merry-Go-Round, and bumper cars, Evans United has added “The Fire Ball” and “Freak Out”, two of their most expensive acquisitions. A new family ride, “The Jumping Jumbos” has been added as well.
“It’s classified a family ride, that mom and dad can ride with the kiddos in it,” Pat Cates said. “It is one of the few rides you’ll find made in the United States. She explained that as the elephants go around, hydraulics will lift them up and down.
Evans United Shows travels to nearly 10 states across the country for more than 30 events from March to mid-November, including at least seven weeks in Iowa.
The Evans family attributes much of its success and longevity in Clear Lake to the community — the Chamber, the businesses and the people — who have supported them over the years.
“Clear Lake is a true blessing to us,” Pat said. “We have both grown together. As the celebration has gotten bigger, Evans has gotten bigger and as Evans has gotten bigger, so has the celebration. You guys know how to do it and do it right.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The family interviews and Evans United Shows history portion of this story were reprinted, with permission, from the Chamber’s “Decades of Fun” magazine and article by Ashley Weiss.)
