Games, rides, and concession stand food come to town with the Carnival at the Dartmouth Mall

After an awful 2020 courtesy of COVID-19, SouthCoast residents are itching to get out and have some fun. With more than a year of social restriction, we all want to spread our wings, exercise our gab muscles, and take the family or a special someone out somewhere that we can forget about the pandemic for a while. Get our minds off of things.

While the announcement that there will be no Portuguese Feast this year took the wind out of our sails, the Dartmouth Carnival will offer some solace. The annual carnival will bring with it our favorite games, carnival rides, and concession food via “food wagons” and will help soothe the pain of the loss of the “festa.”

If you live under a rock, and aren’t sure where the Dartmouth Carnival is, it is in the Dartmouth Mall’s parking lot – you can’t miss it as your drive by the mall on Route 6. Admission is $2 and the carnival takes place from Thursday, July 22 through Sunday, July 25. Operating hours are Thursday and Friday from 6:00pm-10:00pm, Saturday from 1:00pm-10:00pm, and Sunday from 1:00pm tp 9:00pm.

There are three pricing options for those who want to enjoy the rides:

• E-Card: The electronic card is for individual rides and works just like your debit card. You simply pre-load the card with credits and pick and choose the rides you want and the specific number of credits are drawn from the card.

• Wristband: Wristbands are for unlimited rides on specific days and times. Valid: Thursday, July 22 6pm-close. Valid: Sunday, July 25 1pm-5pm or 5pm-close. The wristbands are $30 each if bought online or $35 in person. They can be purchased here.

• Megapass: The “Megapass” is for unlimited mechanical rides for the entire day of your choice. Online price $40. On-site price: $45. Good for one time use, with no advance reservation required. hey can be purchased here.

Rides returning for this year are the Expo Wheel, Flying Bobs, Mardi Gras, Seven Seas, Zero Gravity, Hyper Spin, Pharoah’s Fury, Viper, Carousel, Slide, Crazy Bus, Dragon Wagon, Dizzy Dragon, and Farm Tractors.

Fried dough will be one of the many concession stand foods available. Fiesta Shows photo.