Seniors, disabled enjoy fair in full stride.

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Seniors, disabled enjoy fair in full stride.
Midway facilities more disability-friendly than many other public arenas in the area

By Bo Petersen, The Post and Courier
November 6, 2003

The cars, buses, SUVs and vans lined up to get in before the gate opens. Old and young pile out and are helped into the wheelchairs. The Coastal Carolina Fair is a welcome destination for people with disabilities, in no small part because it's built for kids.

D. BAKER RAY/STAFF

Ninety-five year old Mable McCray (right) of St. Stephen rides the Ferris wheel Wednesday with nurses Tracy Newell (left) of Hemingway and Cherry Williams (front) of Johnsonville.

On "Senior Citizens Day" Wednesday, November 5, the gates opened four hours early, and for free, to host a throng not only of retirees but of younger people with special needs. It's one of those community-minded gestures by the Exchange Club that drew raves from its patrons.

"You can look around right now. Everybody's having fun. The only thing they don't have is the faster rides," said Darius Alls, of Huger, who wheeled his grandmother along. "This is the only time I really get to spend any quality time with my grandmother. We're having fun just walking around."

The number of people who turn out with canes, walkers or wheelchairs for Senior Citizens Day could easily overwhelm many a public facility.

But with walkways built wide open to accommodate crowds, vendor displays and picnic tables set low to accommodate children, the fairgrounds and exhibit halls are more suited to people with disabilities than other public arenas.

It's friendly enough that nurses Tracy Newell and Cherry Williams brought out an old friend of theirs, nonagenarian Mable McCray from Lake Moultrie nursing home. They eased her out of the chair onto the Ferris wheel -- one of two rides, along with a merry-go-round, that can carry people with disabilities.

The three whirled away with McCray smiling like a child.

"It scared me to death, but I didn't tell them," McCray said afterward. She did tell the operators to keep going two more times.On Wednesday, the handicapped parking area next to the main entrance quickly fills. But more parking is provided alongside. Vehicles unload at the gate.

The most trying part of the trip is getting inside. On busy weekend nights, traffic can make it difficult to make way to the parking area. Even if dropped off at the gate it's rough terrain, said Leslie Logan, a staffer at the S.C. Coastal Center , a state residential facility for people with disabilities, who wheeled a client along.

Inside, venues such as the local entertainment stage, built on a slope, are hard to handle. But Logan found level ground with a good view to the side. Maneuvering can be tricky in a few restrooms, but they are handicapped accessible. The newest restroom, on the midway, is as big as the conference room in the club's office.

There's not much seating set aside in the Lakefront Theater, where the major attractions perform, said Jimmie Freeman, fair president. But there's enough space to provide even for the senior day crowd.

"They don't get front stage center, but they can relatively easily get along the aisle. It doesn't seem to impair them at all. They scoot right in," he said.

Charleston County building inspectors have found only minor access problems at the fair, said Carl Simmons, building services director. "To my knowledge, most of it is pretty good."

Overall, the fair provides practically everything, said Sandra Gelzer, coastal center activities facilitator, who on Wednesday brought out the fifth group of residents this year.

Out on the grounds, staffers Daryl Greene and Randy Johnson of Summerville's Presbyterian Home did a little talking to get resident David Hoffman up from the chair and onto the Ferris wheel for the first time since Hoffman was a kid.

"I'm glad they did," Hoffman said afterward. "I like to experiment sometimes."