E.K. Fernandez no longer offering thrill rides, games at school carnivals
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Next year’s Punahou Carnival will not have any E.K. Fernandez thrill rides or games.
And neither will carnivals at other schools. Iolani and Mililani High have also been informed of the change.
In a letter sent out to families, Punahou School said the highly anticipated carnival will be open to the public next year, but rides will be limited to kiddie rides.
In a statement, E.K. Fernandez President Scott Fernandez told Hawaii News Now that their “capacity to produce the Punahou Carnival at the same size and pace is no longer available” and not in their control. He said they are only able to provide to the school what is within their current capacity.
“In the past 24 hours, after this story broke, we have received many inquiries from the public expressing concerns about our reduced footprint at the Punahou Carnival,” Fernandez said. “And our response is these are the consequences of governmental action over the past two years.”
Fernandez said the company, along with other “non-essential” businesses that were shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, saw a lot of business fallout, including insufficient revenue resulting in layoffs.
“If the government doesn’t do more to help companies like ours recover, this new normal will become permanent,” Fernandez said.
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