As businesses across the country face employee shortages, carnival companies are no exception - and the impact will be felt at Jefferson City's Salute to America festival.
Organizers of the annual Independence Day celebration confirmed there will be no carnival rides at this year's Salute to America.
Event coordinator Penny Smith said the carnival company they were working with could not find enough workers to set up and run the rides.
In its place, Salute to America will offer carnival games and an inflatable park, Smith said. Those will be set up on Capitol Avenue, between Madison and Adams streets, and will run July 2-4. Their hours of operation will be the same as had been previously scheduled for the carnival.
"We tried to find a replacement company to come in, but we found out a lot of carnival companies are hurting for workers," Smith said. "Those that aren't were booked up and couldn't come to our show."
Smith said everything else on the Salute to America schedule, including the main stage acts at the Capitol, Route 66 Car Cruise and July 4 fireworks show are ready to go as planned.