I guess I've never been to a carnival that has trained cats.  I hope
they're treated nicely.  I guess cats can be trained but I imagine it
takes a huge amount of patience.  You might want to Google "clicker
training cats" and see what you come up with.  I've thought of doing it
with one of mine in particular but haven't done so yet.  Apparently it
can be enjoyable for the kitties, too.

My cats are indoor only but one goes out on a walking jacket.  There
are 2 pics of him at the end of this album in his jacket:

http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

But he doesn't go for a walk, he meanders.  He can also get out of the
jacket in about a second if he feels like it even though it's supposed
to be almost escape proof so you still have to watch them carefully
when they're in it.

As for the laughing, I dunno, you have to be man enough to take it, I
think.  If I have Marbles out in the front yard in his jacket,
neighbors seem to flock from miles around to observe the strange
phenomenon and they're always laughing but as my one neighbor said,
"We're not laughing at him, we're laughing at you."  You can take it,
be brave.

Candace

(...)

Trainable, indeed. I've trained my cats to do lots of silly things. My
favourite is: I can point my finger at the Small Cat and say 'Bang!'
and he'll fall over. Haven't trained 'em to walk on a leash though.
Might do, at some point.

S.