1. I did not take the covid vaccine. Am I invited?

   • I think you need to get a full time job.

   • It says on the flyer you need child immunizations. COVID vaccines are not child immunizations. Most of Lakewood didn’t take a COVID vaccine. Especially children which the event is geared for. If anything, people who took a COVID vaccine are not invited. It might be too crowded for them to be comfortable.

2. Dr Roberts, thanks so much for organising the best Chol Hamoed event out there and for free!!

   May Hashem repay you with loads of Hatzlacha in Gashmiyus and Ruchniyus, and Nachas from the kinder!!

3. Reading this post just made me excited for Pesach. Thank you Dr. Roberts!

   • Really!! then I guess you don’t like karpas, egg in salt water or morror… because these are the things that make me excited for Pesach!

4. Worth coming for Rabbi Yoel Ferber alone. Thanks for taking my suggestion.
   (Would love a Yoel Ferber Story USB for the way home?) #shnorer r us?

5. I ask every year & get vague responses why not (along with support for me)
   Why can’t we finally implement separate times for men & women?
   We already have so many tsnius issues on our community & I think this is one of them.
   Yom Tov is about kedusha, not Ch”V low brow behavior.
   Before people attack my idea would it kill you to increase your kedusha with a more Mehudar level of tsnius?
   Let’s all join together to give HKBH extra nachas this Yom Tov!

   • The problem is that it will require a lot more man power a lot more time and obviously it will cost more money.
     My suggestion to you is to do what Chizkiyahu the King did when he heard from the prophet that his days were limited. He didn’t accept the final judgement, he prayed and really sincerely prayed until Hashem gave him 15 additional years. I am sure that Hashem will also listen to your beautiful prayers.

     • So does having separate schools for boys & girls. But we still do it because it’s the correct thing to do.

       • 1 can’t compare separate school buildings for boys & girls to a Pesah HolHamoed family outing where families spend time together as a family. No tzanuah issues here.

       • I completely agree. People who make up excuses obviously don’t realize how sacred of a mitzvah Tznius is, and just how much consequences a lack of Tznius will have. The excuses are lame, and hold no water at all. I’m completely for separate times for men and women.

         • Separate times for men & women are just not tenable for a venue of this magnitude. I can respect your point of view but you have to respect everybody else’s, too.

   • Because Yom Tov is family time. For some families, Chol Hamoed is one of the only times they get to go on outings as a family.
     Also, please do tell what is the tznius issue is here. As far as I understand, this event is just shows. No swimming, ropes course/rock climbing, or anything that is remotely compromising in tznius.

     • Activities are not the issue, the issue is so many men and women in same spot that automatically there is bumping into each other etc too close for comfort.

   • Because not all fathers are available to being their sons and not all mothers are available to bring their daughters.

6. This is definitely not a tzanuah issue. The size & number of attendees to the event will make it impossible to impose separate hours for men & women. Besides, Pesah HolHamoed is family time to be together. Have a happy & meaningful Pesah.

7. 1 can’t compare separate school buildings for boys & girls to a Pesah HolHamoed family outing where families spend time together as a family. No tzanuah issues here.

8. Separate times is a bit extreme. Separate seating/standing areas is probably a better idea.

   • A wise comment

9. TYSM Dr. Roberts, we are in awe how you continue to give to the community in such an amazing way year after year!! (Yes, we have been enjoying and coming since the days it was in your backyard! And we continue to marvel…!!)
   Tizke l’mitzvos to you and your amazing team!
   A guten moed to all (including the ones who are grateful, and the ones who seem to always find s/t to chepper about, no matter what the topic ;))!!

10. To those who sent positive comments, I wholeheartedly thank you. These carnivals are a lot of work, complicated, and expensive. Work for the next carnival starts within one week after the previous carnival and continues over the next 5+ months.

    Regarding vaccinations, the required childhood vaccination schedule that I refer to, for the carnivals, does not include the Covid-19 vaccines. Those who did not get the regular childhood vaccinations (minus Covid-19) should not attend. For those who still want to debate the wisdom of Covid-19 vaccinations, this is not the venue for it. The topic here is the carnival.

    Regarding separate hours, it would be untenable to clear out thousands (literally thousands) of people, causing maybe an hour or more of down time, between genders in a single day event in which we are already over-capacity. Less hours would mean thousands of unserved members of the kehila. (Did you notice that the LPD will be limiting access when we reach capacity? This is the first time that we will be doing this.) The way that I think of this is that almost every other Chol Homoed trip will not have separate hours versus we have only kosher food, sneastic clothing, no nevel peh, pre-screened shows, and heavy LPD plus Sherrif protection. Lastly, anyone who is bothered by this environment does not need to attend. (I’m willing to take the loss on the sale of those tickets.)

    While I was shopping for Afikomen toys with our grandchildren today, Shaya Liefer and his staff have been working all day to set up the tents, audio visual equipment, stages, thousands of chairs, cotton candy machines, sugar, signage, and much more. It’s his carnival now. KNA pays for it and I help with many aspects such as searching and analyzing shows and contracts, helping to analyze and advise him on some operational decisions when he asks, choosing nosh and prizes, etc. We all do this for the kehila. We want our frum children to have positive Chol Homoed experiences. We want frum parents to feel good about providing their children with quality kosher entertainment. And we want to relieve the financial stress of frum parents on Chol Homoed.

    We hope that everyone has an enjoyable Chol Homoed.

    Best wishes,
    Rich Roberts

    • Doctor Roberts- Thank you so much.
      Those few comments about separate seating, please do not take any offense.
      1. Out of the 10, 000 people who read this article, only two people made such a comment, that equals to .0005 percent.
      Even those two people, imagine they were actually physically involved with all the carnival preparations, they would fully and completely understand you.
      Again Thank you Dr. Roberts.
      History repeats itself, in every generation you have people who say or do things that the majority do not understand those few individuals.

      • Your comments are appreciated and show wisdom. Thank you

    • Even if I don’t agree with everything I appreciate Dr. Rich taking the time to respond.

      • Thank you

    • Thank you so much for all that you do for the community. Fun is to be had by children and adults alike! Everything is greatly appreciated! I also appreciate your time answering everyone here. I just have one question to ask. I totally get that it’s not feasible to have separate hours, because of the reasons you mentioned. In regards to having separate adult seating though, is that something feasible? Either way I will be attending, as this is the most kosher and fun venue available for entertainment for the whole family on chol hamoed. I would just be more comfortable with separate seating for adults. Thanks again for your hard work and thoughtful gift to the Lakewood community!!

      • I agree with you that separate seating would be preferable. I don’t know if we can do it but it’s something that I’ll put on the agenda for us to consider in our improvement discussions for the next carnival.

      • I agree with you that separate seating would be preferable. I don’t know if we can do it but it’s something that I’ll put on the agenda for us to consider in our improvement discussions for the next carnival.

    • Thank you so much for making sure there is no overcrowding. We did not go in the past because I was concerned about safety. We decided to check it out this year and the kids are having a great time. I really appreciate your putting this together.

      • Thank you for your kind words.

    • Thank you so much! Even though I have lived in Lakewood for 13 yrs, this is the first time going & I see now what all the hype is about. The amount of effort this whole endeavor must have taken is just amazing! A big thank you to you, Mr Roberts, & all the other people who helped make this event a wonderful one!

      • Typo-meant DR Roberts, not Mr

      • B’H’ everything went very well at our carnival. I’m so glad that you tried it out. One of my Rabbaim attended yesterday for the first time. He expressed comments similar to yours. Thank you for your kind words.

11. Let me know when skyzone and climbzone and all the other fun places have separate hours for men and women? They’re also jammed! This is outdoors and much less likely to bump in. If you need to focus on not bumping in then you have a lot more that needs to be dealt with.

    • I agree with you that separate seating would be preferable. I don’t know if we can do it but it’s something that I’ll put on the agenda for us to consider in our improvement discussions for the next carnival.

12. great

13. Gut moed. While my kids have outgrown the carnival, we attended when they were younger and they loved it. My husband has been working on chol hamoed for years and the carnival was one of the few places I felt capable of going to with all my children on my own. Separate hours or separate seating would have made that impossible. There are thousands of men and women who have to work on chol hamoed. And single parents. I hope the carnival continues to be accessible to our entire community and not just to the children who are fortunate enough to have both parents available for them on chol hamoed.

    • I’m glad that you commented. That’s something for us to consider. But if the separate seating was only for parents, so that you could still have all of your children together with you, then wouldn’t that work for you too? Btw, regardless of your answer, I’m now considering that families might like this to be a family event and not be separated. I’ll think about this and informally survey many people.

14. Maybe there can be a men’s only area like there is by Dr. Shanik shlita’s office. The rest will be for everyone. There can also be a third area for women only. A lot of space will be wasted like this since they can’t know before how big to make each area. One area will fill up before the other and it will be very complicated to be adjusting the perimeters of the areas during the event. Thank you Dr. Roberts! The Doctors of Lakewood are mamesh gedolei olam!

    • You’re thinking the same sequence as I.

      Thank you for your kind words.

15. I have medical appointments all day today. My older son will be watching my children. If there would be separate seating, my young daughter (too old to sit with the boys yet too young to be unsupervised) would have to sit alone.
    Thank you so much for your carnivals. It makes a big difference to the people living paycheck to paycheck and those not managing paycheck to paycheck (even with two working parents). The chesed is tremendous. May Hashem bentch you and your family to always be on the giving end.

    • Thank you for your kind words. Separate seating would be by parent so one parent could have all of his or her children on that side. But the more that I discuss it here, the more that I think that the current system is good. For the men who want to sit separately there is a section of black chairs. But we will discuss it.

16. I just came back from the carnival. It was so amazing I have no words, the shows were fantastic!
    I especially enjoyed The Ghoori Science show!
    To those who are not aware: There is seating for men and boys only, a whole slew of pre-prepared black chairs in each tent!
    Thank you Dr. Roberts for this amazing experience!
    I hope to be back next Chol Hamoed Sukkos! ( In Yerushalayim!)
    With much respect,
    Meyer T.

    • I agree that the black chairs might be enough. There’s an English expression “if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it”. The team will discuss it.

      Shteig well in EY.

17. This is my first time commenting in my life on a newsite but I felt obligated to do so. I was looking for Dr. Roberts in person but couldn’t find him. On behalf of myself and my family (all ages) there are no words that would suffice how professional, enjoyable and organized the event was. The details dont go unnoticed (the timing of events, the amount of staff, the range of ages its geared for etc) Each year it gets better and better and on top of that this is the only place my kids look forward going to on Chol Hamoed (and we have gone on expensive trips). Dr Roberts, as my kids were discussing in the car on the way home: you are such a special man- so generous and selfless. I am sure hashem will repay you 1000 fold. How lucky you are!! just as a side note for all those concerned-there was mens seating on the sides for all those that preferred. Thanks again and looking forward to next season!

    • You are so right! You’re very perceptive. We work, after every event, to write every detail that worked and every detail that didn’t. Then we analyze options to correct the issues and finally choose one to implement. This is how I ran a pharmaceutical company that manufactured two billion tablets annually.

      I’m glad that you enjoyed the carnival.

18. thank you was great…

19. Dear Dr. Roberts,
    I am in awe of what an incredible event was put together for so many thousands of families at no cost to them! Wow! All those zchusim of making families have a calm chol hamoed parents are happy kids are happy and what not, what a tremendous zchus!! May you continue to be on the giving end!
    Have a beautiful Yom Tov!

20. Is there a number to call for items that were lost at the carnival? We lost a phone

21. it was amazing

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