My first thought when I saw it was simply wow. I was in love with the concept at first sight. Honestly, I haven't seen any real, unique board concepts in ages, but this just made my day.

Overall, the colors blend in extremely nicely with the dark blue you've used in the background.

First, the banner seems very intriguing to me, but I think it'd look more creative if you were to use something different, or make something different, to represent the "carnival of joy," noticing that it doesn't necessarily have to be the carnival we see in the fairs.

Second, in your primary menu you buttons, I suggest changing the light blue rollover to the type of orange you have for administrator user names.

Thirdly, there needs to be some sort of a border separating your board information, especially the number of posts and threads in each board, which looks squeezed in. I'd suggest using a light blue border on top of the dark blue background, except with a slight dark shade on top of it to blend in more nicely. Also, why don't you use the rest of the menu area on the left to put the announcements? It would look more unique and I think it'd work out quite nicely.

For 16 members, there is definitely a lot of activity going on, especially from all of the staff, so keep that up.