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The Novemeber / December issue of the Circus Historical Society’s periodical, the Bandwagon, will be in the mail to all its members soon. The magazine is 70 pages long and in full color with numerous photographs and illustrations.
Anyone can join the Circus Historical Society by visiting their website at http://www.circushistory.org The Join Now button is easily found at the top. the application and Payment just takes a couple minutes. It will be well worth your time.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls……… Children of all ages, the Circus Historical Society proudly presents the Jan. / Feb. issue of the 53rd Annual Edition of the Bandwagon. Brought to you in full color, this issue is an amazing 48 pages long featuring a 26 page article about the Campbell Bros. Circus out of Fairbury, Nebraska, the life and times of legendary animal man, Frank C. Bostock, the story of Donald Burns, a New York animal trader and showman and much, much, more.
If you are a member of the Circus Historical Society, this exciting issue will be in your hands very soon. If you are not a member, then you are missing a huge part of Circus History. Go to the Official CHS website at http://www.circushistory.org/ Here you can find an application to join along with a simple on-line payment through Paypal. What a great way to get started in the new year with Circus History never told anywhere before. Get your copy of the Bandwagon, today!
BRIAN D. BRIDGEFORD/NEWS REPUBLIC
Rock Springs resident Craig Janzen paints one of the colorfully-decorated, steel-rimmed wheels that will carry historic circus wagons through city streets July 12 when the Great Circus Parade returns to Milwaukee. He was working Thursday morning in the C. P. Fox Wagon Restoration Center of Circus World Museum. Visible behind him is the Pawnee Bill Bandwagon made in 1903.
Getting socked by June flooding interrupted rising attendance at Circus World Museum in 2008, the director said Thursday. However the museum can look forward to a successful Milwaukee Great Circus Parade in July and rising visitor numbers in 2010, he predicted.
CWM Executive Director Steve Freese met with members of the executive committee of the Circus World Museum Foundation, the non-profit organization that operates the museum on behalf of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. They conducted a review of the shortfalls and successes of 2008 and looked forward to the next budget they must prepare, the one for 2010.
In 2007, visitors coming to Circus World Museum was rising for the first time in years and reached about 56,000 people, Freese said. Attendance was rising again in 2008, until the Baraboo River overtopped its banks in early June and forced the closure of the museum grounds.
CWM has been recovering from the floods and that trend should continue, Freese said.
“We’ll be back on the growth we did in 2007, and up through the flood in 2008,” he said. “We had 15 percent growth in 2007 in attendance, and we were up to 8 percent growth before the flood, That hit us pretty badly and we lost attendance,” he said.
Museum staff are working hard on the big project for the year, the parade through Milwaukee, Freese said. It will be the first since 2003.
CWM has already completed contracts with the horse teams and drivers who will be pulling the wagons, Freese said. Restoration of the historic circus wagons that will appear in the parade is also moving along well, he said.
In the C. P. Fox Wagon Restoration Center, Wagon Superintendent Harold “Heavy” Burdick and a crew of museum employees and volunteers were busy preparing 50 elaborately-carved and colorful circus wagons to make their best showing during the Great Circus Parade July 12 in Milwaukee.
On one side of the wagon workshop, Baraboo carpenter Jeff Fry used an electric saw and chisel to shape part of a wooden frame for the Ken Maynard Air Calliope Wagon. Time and again, he tried the fit of the part before taking it back to his workbench to shape it further.
The calliope wagon, a type of musical instrument circuses used to attract crowds, stood stripped to bare wood, waiting for completion of its restoration.
Burdick flipped a sheet over and displayed the gleaming, brass pneumatic pipes of the wagon’s music-making mechanism.
“It needs some loving,” he said of the antique circus wagon.
In another area, Rock Springs resident Craig Janzen and Donald Sanders of Baraboo painted the colorful wood and steel-rimmed wheels that carry the wagons along the parade route. Overlooking them were the ornately painted scenes and faces of the museum’s Pawnee Bill circus bandwagon, originally made in 1903 for Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show.
As part of preparations for the parade, Burdick said they had the wheels squeezed by a giant hydraulic machine to make sure the steel rims cling tight to the wooden spokes and hubs. Each wheel can weight up to several hundred pounds, he said.
“That’s 200 wheels, we have to make sure they go three miles (of the parade route),” he said.
Fry said the last six months of working on wagon restoration rather than home building has been a new experience for him.
“You get to use the same skills,” but it’s always interesting here,” he said. “You never know what they’ll pull in here.”
Fry added it is a lot better to be working in a heated workshop rather than an outdoors construction site.
On another side of the workshop near giant garage-type doors a second air calliope wagon stood, the Cole Brothers Air Calliope No. 82, ready to take part in the parade. This one gleamed with a new coat of red paint and looked as if it was ready for work almost a century ago in the golden age of circuses, parading through the streets to draw adults and children to the performances under the big top.
“That was a total restoration too,” Burdick said. “It worked out really nice.
“A compliment to my guys, because I couldn’t do it without them,” he said. “They deserve a lot of credit for what they do here.”
Burdick said he expects he and his co-workers will not be done restoring all the wagons until shortly before the Great Circus Parade hits Milwaukee’s streets this summer.
In the CWM conference room, Freese said he is optimistic about the future of the museum. However, with the economic slowdown, he didn’t expect attendance in 2009 to rise above that of last year, about 53,000 people.
But as the economy revitalizes in 2010, Freese said effective efforts to promote the museum will again bring rising numbers of visitors. His strategy has been to be “really out there with the public.”
“I think because of the different marketing style and approach that I’ve taken to the management of the facility, I think we can reasonably expect an uptick in the attendance,” Freese said. “We have basically two-and-a-half years evidence for that.”
The Sept. / Oct. issue of the Circus Historical Society’s periodical, the Bandwagon is a stellar piece with full color re-productions of two window cards from the Sig Sautlette Shows 1911 season. Both window cards are 10 1/4″ x 14″ and were produced by the Erie Litho Co. They are in the Pfening archives. If you are not familiar with the Circus Historical Society, try their website at http://www.circushistory.org/ We are the only organization that reviews each show on the road every year. We are also using Paypal now so that your membership fee can be paid instantly and hassle free.
Monday into Tuesday of this week saw winter set in with 9 inches of snow in downtown Baraboo, WI. Needless to say, it is beautiful. It did bring things to a halt for a day or so. This photo and 25 more are in the Baraboo News Republic found on line at http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/
Erin Foley, the Archivist in the Robert Parkinson Research Library at Circus World Museum has started a Facebook page where she is trying to inform all of the things happening in the Library including her Holiday schedule. You can find her Facebook page for the Library at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=39029120941
Happy Holidays!
Dear friends,
It is with great sadness that I write to tell you of the tragedy that has occured at the Kelly Winterquarters in Peru, Indiana. Sometime last week vandals broke into the barns and smashed doors, windows, and basically trashed the place.
Dorothy is 93 and her son Eddie is in his 70’s and they don’t have the funds to even board up the damaged doors and windows to protect what is left of the barns from the upcoming winter.
This historical property was the last known winterquarters of the Cole Bros Circus (railroad show) and still has caging and artwork in the ring barn. Many famous Circus families spent time there in the winter practicing in the ring barns or the cat barn. There is hope that soon someone will take over and restore the place but that doesn’t help now.
I am writing to let everyone know that a fund has been established to help with the repairs or, at least, board up the place to help secure it through the winter.
Joey Kubesch, a dear friend of the Kelly’s, has set up an account to handle the Kelly’s repairs and is donating the labor. Any funds sent will be spent specifically on the repairs at the Kelly farm. Dorothy and Eddie will appreciate this so much, remember that no donation is too small! Anyone wishing to donate can send their donation to: Mrs. Joey Kubesch, Indiana Rural Preservation Council, 1325 S. Frances Slocum Trail, Peru, IN–46970
The Circus World Museum’s wagon collection will be seen in several parades in the very near future again. Starting out at the Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the grand United States Bandwagon will make a guest appearance again this year. The United States Bandwagon was originally built for the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows in 1903 by the Bode Wagon Works. Ringling used it through 1918 and then combined with the Barnum & Bailey Show to still travel in 1919 and 1920. The wagon remained in storage in the Bridgeport, CT. winter quarters until 1927 when it was taken to the new Sarasota, Fl winter quarters. It was never used again. By 1950, it was in complete ruin with only a few carvings salvaged. When Circus World Museum decided to rebuild this grand Bandwagon, they utilized these few carvings to start the pattern and completely rebuilt this wagon from the ground up. What a beauty it is.
Circus World’s CEO Steve Freese tells me details are still being worked out for a Parade in Baraboo, WI. during the Christmas holidays. The huge extravaganza in Milwaukee next year is scheduled for July 12th with over 50 of the Museum’s wagons being taken to Milwaukee for the huge Great Circus Parade.
To learn more about the Circus World Museum and their Fantastic Circus Archives and Research Library plus the largest Circus Wagon collection in the world, go to http://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/ or contact them at: Address
Circus World Museum
550 Water St
Baraboo, WI 53913
Phone & Fax:
608-356-8341 (phone)
866-693-1500 (toll-free)
The Hadi Shrine Circus is gearing up for the 75th Annual return to Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Indiana in what is undoubtedly thee Finest Shrine Circus produced in America. The Hadi Shrine always has a huge array of Circus greats and this year is no exception. Not only will the tigers roar, the high flying trapeze artists will put your heart racing, the comedy of the Shriner clowns will be back and the ponderous performing pachyderms will put memories in you, you won’t be able to forget.
Sponge Bob Square Pants will be there along with Spider-man. Come early and ride the ponies and elephants. Tickets are on sale now for the Greatest Shrine Circus in America. Don’t Miss it!
Performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Performances at 9:30 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m.
Performances at 9:30 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m.
Performance at 3 p.m.
Order thru Hadi Shriners online: www.hadishrinecircus.com, by visiting their ticket booth at the corner of Walnut and Riverside in Evansville, or by calling 1-800-66-CLOWN.
Tickets also go on sale at Roberts Stadium on November 6th. Seats are $20.00, $17.00, $15.00. General admission is available through the Hadi Shriners only.
Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48th) didn’t get what she wanted tonight when she half heartedly agreed to an elephant protection bill that was no where near what she wanted to see in Chicago. Her original request would have eliminated the use of an elephant management tool called an ankus that is used by every elephant Professional throughout the world including Zoos and the Circuses that visit Chicago.
Former Elephant trainer David Blasko stated the bull hook or ankus is a tool to guide and direct elephants, not to harm them with. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Vice-President of Operations, Tom Albert said “We take proper care of our elephants. We use the tool properly.”
“The animal can feel a bull hook just like a dog can feel a leash. Otherwise, it would serve no purpose. But, it’s not cruel if it’s used properly,” Blasko said.
Ald. Smith, whose bill was passed by a City Council committee Thursday, admitted she had to settle for a lesser Bill as she didn’t have the votes to pass the measure as she introduced it following her 2005 campaign to stop the use of elephants in Chicago.
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