Jack Bohlander poses for a photo in his bumper car ride in 1993.
Daily Journal Archive Photo
News from around Johnson County as reported on July 20 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 111 years.
On this day in 1993, the main story on the front page of the Daily Journal was about a family tradition continuing at the Johnson County Fair.
For 27 years, Jack Bohlander had been bringing both his family and his Midway rides to the fair.
Bohlander was the “Jack” of Poor Jack Amusements, the company that has been providing Midway rides and concessions stands at the fair since 1967.
1967 was also the year Bohlander started the amusement company, based in the small town of Milton near Cambridge City.
“Franklin was the first fair contract I signed,” Bohlander recalled. “I only had 12 rides and I remember every one of them.”
One of those rides — a merry-go-round — was back at the fair in 1993. “But it doesn’t look anything like it did then,” Bohlander said.
Bohlander started working in the carnival business at the age of 12, when his father got into the business.
“We raised ponies so we started out with pony rides,” Bohlander recalled. “We charged 9 cents a ride.”
That was in 1944, so 1993 marked Bohlander’s 50th season in the business.
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Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
2000
A Greenwood birthday party ended with a scare when a drain sucked a 9-year-old girl to the bottom of a pool. She ended up surviving her injuries.
1995
Gas from a military-style canister that was lobbed through the window of a Greenwood trailer overcame more than a dozen people, including several residents, three firefighters and at least one police officer.
1973
The Greenwood school system became part of an interim Indianapolis school desegregation plan following an order from a federal judge.
