I started coming to Santa Cruz with my parents when I was about 5. My folks were friends with Jack and Sandy who ran the puppet show right next to the Arcade. My biggest thrill was “Alice in Wonderland” because I got to work the Tweedledee on the pogo stick while Jack (who made every one of those puppets) worked Tweedledum on the flying trapeze. It would swing so high it would go over the wall and crash. Then I did the two tulips that dance next to Tiny Tim as he sang Tip Toe Thru the Tulips. Then his pants would fall down and he would run off stage. They also had a great glow-in-the-dark skeleton, the bones would come apart as he danced. But the end of the show was my favorite. They had a spider above the exit. So I got to grab the string and run down the scaffold with it. That was to release him from the ceiling to swoop down on people as they left the show.
One day I even got to help paint a few ghosts in the Haunted House. And also the big dragonfly in the Cave Train. When I finished they ran the Merry Go Round just for me. It was like a fairy tale.
