Family Fun at the Dauphin Carnival

Every year you can count on the Dauphin Carnival taking center stage during the month of July. Thousands of people from Perry, Cumberland, Dauphin and Juniata counties look forward to the carnival's arrival each year.

The Dauphin Carnival is held in Middle Paxton Township and is hosted by the Middle Paxton Lions Club. You'll find it on Allegheny Street, between Delaware and Church Streets in Dauphin, Pennsylvania and is a week-long event.

As a family we spent an entire evening at the carnival having some fun! There were approximately 8-10 amusement rides, numerous carnival games to play, a Bingo game area and they had a stage set-up with live entertainment. I have to admit, the band (Pentagon) they had playing on Friday night was pretty good! Every night you'll find live entertainment that's free to enjoy.

Parking can be a real nightmare, especially if you're going on a Friday or Saturday night. We had to park pretty far away and walk up to the venue. Luckily, the weather was very nice, although HOT on the evening that we attended. I really wish the parking was just a little bit better or perhaps someone out there directing traffic to help you find appropriate parking.

You'll find all kinds of carnival-style food there for purchase. We saw French fries, hot dogs, hamburgers, sno-cones, popsicles, cotton candy, pizza, milk shakes, soft drinks and more. The prices for the food wasn't too bad. We all got sno-cones at $3.00 each and those sno-cones were really good!

If you're a fireworks fan, they always host their fireworks show on Friday night, weather-permitting. If they have to reschedule the fireworks show due to weather issues, they will then host the show on Saturday night. The fireworks show always draws a BIG crowd and lasts for approximately 20 minutes or so.

We had a great time at the 2017 Dauphin Carnival and this was the 4th year that we've attended. I think it gets a little bit better and bigger as each year passes. If you're looking for a small hometown carnival to attend during the month of July, I would recommend this one. It's held every year during the month of July for an entire week. Start and end dates vary, so you'll want to call the Lions Club or the Borough to find out the next dates for the event.