Carnival owner, IISA President Sandy Schmidt is Show Person of the Year
There’s no denying that Sandy Schmidt knows the carnival business from the ground up.
The daughter of the late Ivan and Agnes Arnold (Arnold Amusements, Traverse City, Michigan), she worked with her family for years and today owns T.J. Schmidt & Company, a carnival based in Standish, Michigan.
“Dad became enamored with the business as a youngster, following John Reid (former Happyland Shows) around on the lot when he played the local fair. Later, dad traveled with the carnival working with Buster Anderson, who had games,” Schmidt recalled.
In 1970, Ivan and Agnes Arnold moved over to W.D. Wade Shows, another Michigan carnival, where they owned and operated a basketball concession.
“Dad also got into the ride business, with his first being a Swinging Gym. Then he got a Tempest, a Scat and kiddie bumper cars,” Schmidt said. “I used to stand in the middle of the bumper cars and rescue the kids when the cars got jammed up — paying for it with bruised ankles.”
The Arnolds and Sherman Schmidt became unit managers for Wade Shows, but departed when the company was sold in 1980.
“My dad started Arnold Amusements and Sherman Schmidt started Schmidt Amusements,” she added. “I ran the popper for dad, but before then — when we had knock-down ticket boxes — I sold tickets for the Tempest and Tom (brother) sold Scat tickets. On my 18th birthday, Dad got mad at the crew, fired everybody, and Tom and I had to tear the show down. Dad did eventually cool down and got everyone back.”
She was quick to point out that moving Arnold Amusements to the next location during that era was up to a handful of drivers.
“I drove a semi for years,” she asserted. “Dad, Tom and Steve Saville were the only other truck drivers then. We moved the whole show.”
Schmidt’s son, Terry, and Sandy became friends when their families worked together on Wade Shows.
“I met Terry when we were 10,” she said of the friendship, which evolved over time. “We were married in ‘83, and I went over to Schmidt Amusements with him.”
As the Schmidt family grew, Terry and Sandy decided to branch out, forming their own carnival in 2007. T.J. Schmidt & Company made its debut for the 2008 season.
Reflecting on the startup of the show, she noted that equipment was acquired from TNT Midways, which was a joint venture with her brother, Tom, and Tim Bors.
“Tim was killed in an accident shortly after TNT was started, so the company was short-lived. We also got some equipment from Jeff Brady of Playworld Amusements when he sold out,” she said. “Arnold Amusements took some of the Brady route, and we got some of the Arnold spots. We actually started our first season with a full route and were lucky in that respect.”
T.J. Schmidt & Company fielded 18 rides as well as popcorn and elephant ear concessions in its inaugural year. Key personnel included the Schmidts’ two sons, Josh and Kyle, and long-time employee Doug Burtch.
“Doug started with me when he was 15 in my elephant ear trailer. He turns 50 this year and now manages our office,” she pointed out. “Josh left the show a few years ago and lives with his family in Ithaca, Michigan.”
Kyle Schmidt and Burtch currently co-own rides and concessions on the show.
In 2011, Terry Schmidt was diagnosed with leukemia.
“As the leukemia progressed, we had to go for more treatments,” she recalled of the difficult time. “The boys kept the show running and Terry and I returned to the lot right after his treatments. Terry passed in July of 2018 and it was a long summer for me. I didn’t have time to process it until after the season.
We had just built a beautiful home in Standish with 31 acres, so I was there by myself. I decided to move back to Riverview, Florida, to be closer to family.”
Brothers Tom and Jon, who today operate Arnold Amusements, live next door to each other in Riverview, while Schmidt’s son, Kyle, purchased a house around the corner.
“Our parents were nearby as well, so we jokingly called it Arnoldville,” she said.
Sandy Schmidt currently serves as president of the International Independent Showmen’s Association (IISA). The association has a clubhouse and exposition property in Riverview, Florida, where the International Independent Showmen’s Foundation, the fundraising arm of IISA, will present its 59th annual Super Trade Show & Extravaganza in February.
“I became involved with the club when our family moved to Riverview in 1976,” she emphasized. “I became a member when I was 18 and I’m the eighth person in our family to be (IISA) president.”
Following her husband’s death, she became more active with the association and worked her way through the chairs. Brother Tom is currently chair of the trade show and is president of the association’s Carnival World Museum, which is across the street from the IISA complex. Sandy also sits on the museum board.
“Dad was very instrumental in starting the Showmen’s Museum and was president until his passing,” she noted. “Tom and I were both on the board then.”
Sandy Schmidt was at the showmen’s club in March, near the end of its seasonal schedule, when she got a call from her son Kyle.
“He told me, ‘Mom, first of all, nobody got hurt; it’s the shop, it’s on fire and it’s bad.’ He was sending video as it was happening,” she recalled.
The blaze leveled the large structure and also destroyed two major rides, tools and other maintenance equipment. Several seats on the show’s gondola wheel were also lost in the disaster.
“I cried like a baby when I went home and saw the fire scene,” she said of the devastation. “The boom on the Tilt-A-Whirl trailer was melted; the drop tower the same thing.
The one thing that broke me was the loss of the Tilt-A-Whirl. It was the first ride Terry bought before we were married. When the kids were little, Terry and I took it into the shop and took it apart while the kids slept (in the shop). We refinished the ride in purple and green — the show colors. In retrospect, it’s equipment and nobody was hurt. Things happen and you just have to keep rolling.”
The carnival did manage to get on the road to fulfill its 2026 schedule with a solid arsenal of rides and attractions.
Sandy Schmidt admits, “The company is in very good hands moving forward.”
“I managed the food until a couple of years ago. The boys have taken over the day-to-day, but I’m here offering my two cents all summer,” she asserted. “It was time for me to start stepping back, but I’ll never not be here.”
She contends she is now in a place where she can enjoy a little more of her six grandchildren, saying: “When they are here on the show, I can take them on the merry-go-round and do the things grandmas are supposed to do. I have a week when I have all of them and we call it Camp Doodah.”
When asked what word best describes Sandy Schmidt, she quickly responded: “resilient.”
For her decades of dedication to the mobile industry and IISA, the SHOW PERSON OF THE YEAR award is presented to Sandy Schmidt.
—Ron Gustafson
