Updated
Daniel Williams has show business in his blood.
At 33, he is the third generation in his family to run attractions in sideshow alley at Perth's Royal Show, a career he took up straight after finishing school.
"I've grown up in the showgrounds; I've never missed a Perth Royal Show ever," he said.
"As a kid I always loved it, I was always wanting to be at the show. I think it just gets in your blood and you want to be here and be involved.
"My grandparents started the business and my parents worked in the business for awhile.
"Then I took it on from my grandparents, so it's really been a family affair for quite some time.
"A lot of the showmen down here are in family businesses."
Show time a 24/7 life
Mr Williams operates an array of sideshow alley games, children's tea cup rides, laughing clowns and stands selling traditional show food — dagwood dogs, donuts and fairy floss; he employs 25 people to run them over the course of the show.
For him, the show starts months before the gates open, with planning, ordering and setting up.
During the show he lives on site in a caravan.
"We are here 24/7," he said.
"The first few nights down here it takes a bit to get used to.
"The cattle lanes are not far behind where we are staying so you can hear the cows at odd times, street sweepers are going past; there is a lot going on to make sure the show is ready and prepped for the next day."
Despite the huge technological changes that have taken place with rides since his grandparents started in the business, very little has changed with the sideshow alley games.
His laughing clowns, which are a perennial favourite with children where every player wins some kind of prize, were built by hand by Mr Williams' grandfather.
"Those ones have been in our family for a very long time," he said.
"They have had a few facelifts and licks of paint, but they are still the same ones."
Are the games rigged?
The shooting and knock-down games sometimes change their theme — this year one of the stands invites punters to shoot zombies — but they are essentially the same as they've always been.
And despite impressions, they aren't as hard to win as people think.
"People overthink when they are playing the games," Mr Williams said.
"We have a game called Knock 'Em, where you have a stack of five cans and you throw the ball and you have to knock the stack over.
"People overthink it and think they have to throw it really hard, but all you have to do is aim, do a gentle throw and the stack falls over quite easily."
And believe it or not, the enormous soft toys that tempt many players, but are rarely won, arrive in Perth unstuffed and are finished locally.
"There are a lot of people and businesses involved in the show, which I don't think people realise," Mr Williams said.
"They are filled here, they finish sewing them up here and they come to us and we have to hang every one up."
A showman for life
Since he was born Mr Williams has never missed a Perth Royal Show and he said he would never tired of it.
"I love the atmosphere, I love it when the crowds are here and everyone is having a great time. It's a fun environment."
His parents were strict about him going to school, but he spent many weekends and school holidays at shows growing up.
When the show's over this year, he will pack up and head to Waroona, before touring to a series of shows around the state until Christmas.
And despite concerns about the show's future following rainy weather, shrinking crowds and dwindling profits, Mr Williams said he was confident he would still be doing his job in 20 years' time.
"You can't replicate what you get when you come down to the show," he said.
"People can sit in front of video games and the TV but you miss out on the atmosphere and the interaction.
"There is still an important part for the show in society, and when people do come down here they love it."
Topics: agricultural-shows, family, work, careers, community-and-multicultural-festivals, carnivals-and-festivals, human-interest, perth-6000
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