Saving animals is legacy of Oldsmar Flea Market's circus veteran
[Courtesy of Gini Valbuena]Gini Valbuena, with chimp Eli, befriended Manly “Sonny” Harris, who died in November
By Douglas R. Clifford, Times Staff Writer
Tampa Bay Times
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
OLDSMAR--Even by the standards of the Oldsmar Flea Market, Manly "Sonny" Harris' collection of old circus memorabilia was considered eclectic.
His booths at the market were stuffed with old clowns, wooden mannequins, carousel horses, pocket watches, gilded mirrors, chimpanzees playing the piano and a 5,000-piece model of a circus — items he had gathered during decades as an animal trainer and carny.
Sonny was also known as an animal lover at the market, where he lived in a trailer behind his flea market space. One of his regular visitors was Gini Valbuena, 66, of Clearwater, who met Sonny while strolling the market with a baby chimpanzee she was raising for a private zoo.
"The little chimp did not like men, but this one crawled out of the stroller and jumped into Sonny's lap," Valbuena said. "It crawled up and hugged his neck."
That hug started a 25-year friendship, which would end with Valbuena at Sonny's bedside at Hospice House Brookside, where he died in November. He was 87.
Now, Valbuena is in charge of an effort at the flea market to memorialize Sonny.read more:http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/saving-animals-is-legacy-of-oldsmar-flea-markets-circus-veteran/1216460
His booths at the market were stuffed with old clowns, wooden mannequins, carousel horses, pocket watches, gilded mirrors, chimpanzees playing the piano and a 5,000-piece model of a circus — items he had gathered during decades as an animal trainer and carny.
Sonny was also known as an animal lover at the market, where he lived in a trailer behind his flea market space. One of his regular visitors was Gini Valbuena, 66, of Clearwater, who met Sonny while strolling the market with a baby chimpanzee she was raising for a private zoo.
"The little chimp did not like men, but this one crawled out of the stroller and jumped into Sonny's lap," Valbuena said. "It crawled up and hugged his neck."
That hug started a 25-year friendship, which would end with Valbuena at Sonny's bedside at Hospice House Brookside, where he died in November. He was 87.
Now, Valbuena is in charge of an effort at the flea market to memorialize Sonny.read more:http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/saving-animals-is-legacy-of-oldsmar-flea-markets-circus-veteran/1216460
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