East Side Story: Growing Up at the PNE

Comedian and elementary school teacher Marino debuts with a quirky memoir about his time attending and working at the Pacific National Exhibition, a fair-slash-amusement park situated in Hastings Park and Playland in his native Vancouver, Canada. Marino recounts the history of the PNE, which began in 1910, shares fond memories of family trips to the fair in the 1970s, and details his experiences as an employee there for six consecutive summers, beginning in 1980, when he was 12. He dedicates a full chapter to the PNE’s legendary wooden roller coaster (Canada’s oldest still in operation) and fortifies his amusing, behind-the-tent anecdotes with a hodgepodge of photographs ranging from candid family snaps to historical shots from the Vancouver city archives. Some of the most memorable episodes focus on the seedier aspects of fair life, including organized bingo crime rings and the objectification of contestants in the the annual beauty pageant (“The PNE has since found ways to promote itself without relying on the bodies of high school girls,” he notes). While the tone is often wry, Marino doesn’t shy away from genuine emotion, underlining how important the fair was to his family in the wake of his mother’s death from melanoma in the 1980s. The result is a droll yet moving ode to a Canadian tradition. Photos. (Nov.)