For many Singaporean millennials, the tinny tunes warbling from Uncle Ringo’s amusement park rides conjure nostalgia-fogged vignettes of quaint carnivals flashing in open fields. The latter may appear to be an industry in its sunset years, but to Joyce Lee, represents the past, present and refulgent future.
Now easing into the front seat of the carnival firm her father Lee Woon Chiang started in 1984, she’s ready to manoeuvre it into bigger, more boisterous fairgrounds. Throughout the month of December, Uncle Ringo’s new entertainment arm, The Show Master, is hosting a fantasia of international circus acts and carnival rides, coupled with a winter-themed playground and food village at the Bayfront event space.
Your humble pasar malam (night market) funfair on steroids, The Great Bay Fiesta is the full realisation of a project scuttled by the pandemic. “My dad and I watched the film The Greatest Showman together and went, ‘Hey, I know people who can put a performance together, why don’t we do it?’”
The duo dreamt up an affordable alternative to mega shows such as Cirque du Soleil and the Great Moscow State Circus. Their two-week extravaganza featuring about 50 international artistes opened in December 2019, just as reports of an insidious virus sweeping over China began shuddering through international headlines. Plans for a roving circus were put to paid, and the ensuing year careened on, parlous and unforgiving.
Lee reveals that the business sustained a 95 per cent plunge in revenue that drove them to lay off staff. “It was a tough decision, but our operations just couldn’t support the size of the team.”
Amid the morass of pandemic-triggered restrictions, her father suffered a heart attack at the end of 2020. “I don’t know whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate that it happened during the pandemic because he is one who hardly takes a day of rest. Because it happened when business was slow, he had a good six months of rest,” she shares.
It was a tenuous period set on a hair’s trigger, but the company ploughed through the downturn by undertaking ride maintenance contracts and offering sanitisation services for pre-schools. “I won’t lie; in the past two years I did ask him if the business is sustainable and whether he would reconsider pulling through this period since he is past retirement age,” she recalls.
“But he saw this as an opportunity, saying that with pent up demand, everyone will want to come out again once we ride out the storm. So, his positivity and resilience are things I try to learn.”
Raised as an only child surrounded by mechanised wonders licked in kaleidoscopic paint, Lee’s formative years were as enviously whimsical as you may imagine. “It was fun for me because I thought, this is my dad’s job and he’s playing all the time. When I was two or three, he brought rides to our house for my birthday party. While they weren’t white-knuckle rides, they were a hit with friends and family,” recounts the 38-year-old.
She adds that she did not fully apprehend how coddled she was till much later. “It was not until I became a mother that I realised how difficult it is to be a parent. Both my parents aren’t strict, and I wonder how to avoid whacking or screaming at your kid — they must have been really patient with me,” says the mother of two toddlers.
Having carved out her own career in risk consultancy, the doe-eyed daughter joined the family business 12 years ago. “It was a time where new regulations were being rolled out for amusement ride safety and he asked if I could help him with that.”
The pair isn’t impervious to differences of opinion in steering the company — the avuncular elder Lee maintains keen operational oversight while she has a more hands-off approach — but ultimately enjoy a complementary relationship. “He is quite a risk taker while I’m more risk averse. At the same time, he keeps up with trends; he is the one who insisted on rolling out RFID cards to replace our paper tickets,” she offers.
Notably, The Great Bay Fiesta will feature an inflatable playground tricked out in the design of a popular NFT art piece by OpenSea.
It’s a fitting diversion comporting with a crowd that may harbour warmer feelings towards their smartphones than a fibreglass carousel ride. The Show Master is Uncle Ringo’s way of pandering to an audience with fitful attention spans as well as filling a gap in large-scale family-friendly festivals.
While that may herald a new beginning for a decades-old business, Lee isn’t about to throw the baby out of with the bathwater. “I’m aware that Uncle Ringo is a traditional brand and along with that comes all the nostalgia that I’d like to preserve for as long as we can. The little night market carnivals at people’s doorsteps will still happen while we cater to people seeking more thrills at large events.”
For what it’s worth, old is gold when it comes to sparking joy. “We have a ride that is almost as old as me and still running well. I rode it two months ago during an inspection and was like hey, I took a photo while on it when I was younger.”
Photography: Mun Kong
Styling: Chia Wei Choong
Hair: Peter Lee, using Goldwell
Makeup: Keith Bryant Lee, using Dior Beauty
