If the Smalltown Carnivoo Committee thought that the fall out from last year’s notorious ‘We Will Have No Gays in Our Carnivoo’ episode was bad then they must be really feeling the pain this year.
Whilst former Chairman Mr Old’s sister has taken over the hot seat, it appears that Secretary, Sean Malicious, and Carnivoo Chief Sheriff and owner of Tinpot Spurt Events, Madley Dangeridge are now running the show and making a total pig’s ear of it.
Mr Dangeridge has already received criticism for closing all the roads into Smalltown and has also had to remove all the advertising boards, which made more of a feature of his own business than the date of Carnivoo, after the thorny question of planning permission was raised.
The idea of moving the finish line an extra 94 feet so that it ended beyond The Shining Light public house has been scrapped, although Mr Dangeridge has confirmed that the deal with The Shining Light for free food for life for himself and his partner, Mr Malicious, still stands.
Last week Mr Malicious and Mr Dangeridge set up an online fundraiser, using the name Smalltown Carnivoo Limited (where Mr Old is listed as the sole director), but without telling Mr Old what was being done in his name.
The fundraiser seeks to raise £500, but it has not yet been confirmed if this is to replace the promised cash from the Shining Light, or to cover the money lost from programme sales, or if it is required to purchase extra plastic cones so that over-zealous Carnivoo Marshalls can cone off every road in Smalltown.
The funding appeal details how ‘in 2019 over £6000 was donated by our Carnivoo to local and national good causes and charities‘. Which is strange, because the Carnivoo was most recently held in 2022 when a figure for the money distributed to good causes was put at £10,408.
The fundraiser on behalf of the Carnivoo Committee further details how ‘We are asking for funds to enable us to carry on bringing this magnificent show to our town.‘ which begs the question – with only a couple of weeks to go what will happen if the funds aren’t raised? It seems unlikely that Carnivoo will be cancelled at this late stage, so why are the Committee suddenly seeking money?