Downtown Residents Rail Against 'Disruptive' Street Fairs

Downtown residents say street fairs generate noise, traffic and garbage, harming local businesses.

A fair on Murray Street in TriBeCa last summer. (Flickr/NK Eide)

By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

February 14, 2011-LOWER MANHATTAN — Street fair season is still a few months away, but arguments are already breaking out downtown about the value of the schlock-and-greasy-food fests.
Detractors complain that the fairs generate noise, traffic and garbage, harming local businesses and reducing residents’ quality of life. Supporters argue that the fairs are worth the inconvenience because they boost the cash-starved nonprofits that sponsor them.
Further complicating matters, Community Board 1, the organization charged with weighing the pros and cons of the street fairs and issuing an advisory opinion on them, plans to raise about $30,000 this year by sponsoring seven of its own fairs.
CB1 will use the money to pay for office supplies and equipment, and also to keep a buffer against threatened city budget cuts, said Noah Pfefferblit, district manager of CB1.
"Unfortunately our city funds are not sufficient to meet our needs," Pfefferblit said in an e-mail.
Other organizations that sponsor street fairs downtown include the New York City Police Museum, the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, Chabad of Wall Street, the Independence Plaza Tenants Association and the 1st Precinct Community Council.
Good causes or not, many people downtown loathe the fairs
Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110214/downtown/downtown-residents-rail-against-disruptive-street-fairs#ixzz1E1a1K8Pm

Tuesday TV Picks: Larry the Cable Guy gets his own show
'Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy'
Picture this (if you can). The "Get 'er done" comedian travels across our country to find unique and different aspects of our history. Tuesday, Larry heads to a gator-infested swamp, goes undercover at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and races in a soapbox derby. 9 p.m. Tuesday on History (seattletimes.com/tvlistings).

Circus comes to town

Photo courtesy of Circo Aereo.

Circo Aereo, a circus group from Finland, will perform tonight in the de Jong Concert Hall..
By Carmen Dunford- Mon, 02/14/2011

from: http://universe.byu.edu/node/13980

Finnish circus, French juggling and flying high are what make the act “Espresso” the epitome of circus.
Circo Aereo, a contemporary circus group from Finland, will perform tonight in the de Jong Concert Hall. The show begins at 7:30 and tickets range from $11 to $21 for students.
Maksim Komaro, director, said in an e-mail the show will feature many ideas and genres of circus.
“We have a bit of everything,” Komaro said. “Vaudeville, traditional circus, street show, more contemporary ideas of circus; it’s a bit of a strange mix, but it hopefully comes together by the end.”
Jeff Martin, arts manager at BYU, said the show is a throwback to old-time traditional circus about comedy, physicality and juggling.
“I think people will be impressed with their level of skill,” Martin said. “I think it’s just something that people don’t get to see very often, so it will be kind of a fun opportunity to experience another culture.”
The group, formed in 1996, features four performers that have different backgrounds. Komaro said the others have studied in circus schools and have background in juggling. Komaro is self-taught, his love of circus stemming from when he saw an American magician on TV at age 5.
“I was hooked ever since,” Komaro said. “It started literally as child’s play for me, turned into a hobby and eventually into my profession. Magic, juggling and circus have been my passion and I have found my wife and most of my friends through this world.”
Komaro’s wife is an aerial acrobat and he said their 2-year-old son is obsessed with juggling and performing and plays that way all day long.
BYU will be the first stop on Circo Aereo’s tour to the United States.
“‘Espresso’ is a high-speed ride through the labyrinth of the history of circus,” according to program information. “The kind of voyage where one’s gaze can only grasp images, glimmers of light and movement.”

Extreme Riders - Kosair Shrine Circus 2-12-11

FROM MODERN MECHANIX

Don't forget click on each picture to enlarge & read!

BYRD FAMILY TENT MEETING AND DINNER, PART 1 (FROM BILL PRICKETT)

John & Shirley Ringling North

On Oct. 05, 2010, members of the Byrd Family Tent, CFA, met in S. Jakcsonville, Il., and prepared and helped serve dinner for the
performers, workers, and owners of the Kelly Miller Circus. Chef Brian LaPalme prepared three delicious salads, wives of the tent
members brought deserts, and tent members Dave Williams, Andy, and Mike Sorrill grilled the hambergers and brats.
Performers and workers able to dash into the cook house tent at the intermission of the first show and enjoy the delicious meal.
After these people were served, tent members and wives, were able to enjoy their meal and visit with John and Shirley North.
After clean up, the tent members and wives enjoyed the second show in the big top. Bill Prickett (photos by Bill Prickett)

John Moss (RM) and John North

Armando Loyal and Charlie Bellatti

John North, Charlie Bellatti, Jay Jamison

. Dave Williams, Andy and Mike Sorrill

(MORE TO COME TOMORROW!)

ASSORTED PICS FROM LOUISVILLE SHRINE CIRCUS PART 1

ASSORTED PICS FROM LOUISVILLE SHRINE CIRCUS

Kosair Shrine Circus Wows Louisville

50,000 Residents Flock To Watch Traveling Circus

February 13, 2011, From: www.wlky.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Circus officials said about 50,000 people flocked to watch the 86th Annual Kosair Shrine Circus at the Broadbent Arena in Louisville this weekend.
But circus officials said spectators were not the only ones that were attracted to the show. Protesters from the group called Animal Lovers of Louisville were also outside the arena to voice out their disapproval.
"(The circus) raises ethical questions of behavior towards other living creatures, and we are committed to stopping this practice in this community," protester Marc Wessels said.
However, Kosair Shrine Circus spokesman Randy Coe said they do not mistreat their animals.
"We would never allow cruelty at our circus and we have no history of that whatsoever, but I'm glad we live in a country where people can lawfully disagree," Coe said.
But there were no disagreements from the thousands of spectators, as they said the show was one that everyone must see.
"It's fun to see the circus through the eyes of kids. They're had such a great time," circus-goer Stephen Moore said.
Circus performer Nina Carden said one of the reasons circus members perform well together is that they were all born into the business.
"It is a very family oriented business, so it's a hard business to get into if you're not from it," Carden said.
“It's very exciting because everybody's a great performer. These people who come out here and travel with the circus are fifth generation circus people. Their grandparents were jugglers and trapeze artists," circus host Louie Michael said.
Coe said more than 300 volunteers work year-round to help make the annual show possible.
Circus officials said one of the biggest attractionsat the circus is getting the opportunity to ride one of six 9,000-pound elephants. "Isn't riding the elephants a lot of fun? It brings the kid out in all of us," Coe said.
Because the circus is for children, the Shriners said they were pleased that they were able to give out 12,000 free tickets to "Kosair Kids" with special needs.

Longest-running circus in Australia brings the big top fun to Armidale

Rob Levy putting on a show with the miniature donkeys
CRAIG SCHNEIDER
14 Feb, 2011
from: The Armidale Express.com
ROLL UP to one of Australia’s last remaining exotic circuses at the Armidale Showground.The Lennon Bros Circus is coming to town from February 17 to 20 - the only one to arrive in Armidale this year.
“We’re an exotic circus, meaning we have lions, monkeys, alpacas, camels, miniature horses and donkeys,” advanced marketing manager Patrick Houghting-Anderson said.
“We’re only one of two circuses left in Australia who have the exotic animals.”
The Lennon Bros Circus is the longest running circus in Australia, having been around since 1893.
Be amazed by the trapeze, high-wire act and acrobats, contortionists, clowns and the Double Wheel of Death in the two-hour show.
“We try to put the ‘wow’ factor back into circus,” Mr Houghting-Anderson said.
“We want to excite our guests and enable them to have an experience that they wouldn’t normally get.”
The Lennon Bros Circus remains family owned, with Geoffrey and Warren Lennon operating the circus.
Mr Houghting-Anderson, who has worked with a number of circuses, said that the animals here are well maintainted.
“The animals are our livelihood, but they’re also members of our family,” he said.

Circus for the soul;

UniverSoul Circus Review

Feb 13, 2011,By Monica Hill, Atlanta Unique Arts Examiner, www.examiner.com

Once an unprecedented idea; a black circus -- first became a reality here in Atlanta! After 18 years, the soulful circus is still bringing the funk to it's birth home (with both the animals and the music). Located in the Green Lot of Turnerfield, under the UniverSoul Circus Big Top, Atlanta becomes as interactive as a Braves game with the help of some familiar friends. All the traditional circus components were apart of the show. With an engaging Ringmaster, awesome tricks, smelly animals, elements of danger, and food that smells better than it tastes, a circus wouldn't be a circus without all of those things. However, there's one thing that UniverSoul Circus has that makes it incomparable to others. Well it's pretty oblivious, since it is apart of the name, but, in case you missed out on it -- it's Soul!
When the word soul is used most of us will think of music. Though pop culture is infused into the entire show, the focus of soul for UniverSoul Circus is more than any hip-hop song can offer alone. A circus for the soul must interact with the people. From the high ropes acts to the appearance of Black Jesus, every part of the show is delightfully engaging. For instance, the ringmaster, "Shuckie Duckie" had to have passed my seat three times to get personal with those in attendance. There were giant beach balls to keep the audience busy even while the set was changing. The performers are an array of ethnicities and their costumes are just as colorful. The faithful were even surprised with a spiritually evoking grand finale. So it's safe to say, someone might have been led to the lord courtesy of "Big Top".
Thus, with soul being one half of the differentiating feature of this one-and-only world renown African-American circus, the better half is the audience. And, from the looks of it Atlantans know how to bring the soul with them to a circus.
It's no wonder why we needed to create our own. The Ringling Brother's surely ain't havin' all the ruckus during a show! But, under the "Big Top" the hooting and hollering is generously encouraged. 'Praise': A "joyful noise", that's what the Bible calls it and maybe the UniverSoul Circus performers would agree. Kudos, to the creators/owners of the black circus, Cedric and Cynthia Walker for providing culture to a culture that is often not allowed in the leading lane. The UniverSoul Circus under the Big Top is the definition of what happens when you create the lane -- success!
The circus will be here in Atlanta until February 27th, 2011.
So get your tickets in advance because it's bound to be...
Souled Out!
For more information on the UniverSoul Circus & ticktes: http://www.universoulcircus.com/index.php

Circus Finocchio, Rome

SAD NEWS FROM FLORIDA...

RICHARD "DICKIE" PALMER

4-28-1932 to 2-2-2011

Dickie passed away last Wednesday morning in Gibsonton FL! He was the concession manager on Hoxie's Great American Circus back in the 70's and will be greatly missed by all! He requested to be creamated and will have no service, please keep his close friends and family in your prayers

"Dickie" was a great friend who taught Bill and I a lot

about the novelty business.

HE WILL BE MISSED!

Hometown boy makes circus ring

Goldsboro native Andrew Hicks, 19, performs as a clown Friday during The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

By Molly FlurryFebruary 13, 2011
"Mom, Dad, I'm joining the circus." When Andrew Hicks told his parents that, he was not clowning around. "I've been clowning my whole life, so it wasn't a surprise to my parents that I would want to go further,"

Local group protests Shiner's Circus
Feb 12, 2011 LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB Fox 41) -- A group of animal rights activists are protesting the circus that's in town this weekend.
Members of the group, Animal Lovers of Louisville, held signs and stood outside the state fairgrounds protesting the Kosair Shriner's circus.
They claim circus animals are mistreated and forced to do "unnatural activities."
They want it to stop.
"It's important to me to come out and show the community that this type of behavior is unnecessary, that it raises questions of ethical treatment towards other living creatures. And we are committed to stopping this practice in this community," said Dr. Marc A. Wessels, Animal Lovers of Louisville.
The group has made a habit of protesting.
We tried to contact the Kosair Shriner's Circus but there was no answer.

A circus with a lot of history comes to town

Ringmaster Peter Sturgis, a 30-year veteran of the profession, will oversee the proceedings.
By Don Steele
Dodge City Daily Globe
Feb 12, 2011
DODGE CITY — Kids in Lebanon learn tumbling much the same way kids in America learn baseball — it’s the national pastime. And that’s how George Hamid’s passion for the circus got started — tumbling through the dirt streets of his hometown, Broumana, in the early 1900s. Hamid’s grandmother sent young George to join his uncle’s acrobatic troupe, which happened to be touring France with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1907. When the troupe returned to America in 1908, Hamid was taught to read and write English by a fellow performer: Annie Oakley. Having learned his way around show business from one of the best, Hamid rose to the top of the industry. He won the Acrobatic World Championship at the age of 13. By the age of 17, he owned his own act and began his own booking business for other acts. He became a recognized expert on fairs, circuses and expositions and even bought the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.
In 1932, Hamid joined forces with veteran circus producer Bob Morton and started a touring show that continues today, now known as Hamid Circus Inc. The family business is now run by James Hamid Jr., representing the fourth generation of Hamid showmanship. Schooled by his father in all aspects of circus production, from sound to lights to logistics, Hamid proudly continues the family tradition of bringing smiles to hundreds of circus-goers across the country.
Come join the circus Hamid and his troupe arrived in Dodge City earlier this week, gathering here to put together the very first performance of the 2011 tour, the 80th anniversary for the family business. “We have acts coming from all over to join this year’s tour,” Hamid said in an interview with the Globe just two hours before the first performance. The tour will take its 40 members across the country at a rate of one city per week through October. “It will be a while before we get back home,” Hamid said. Hamid’s wife, Shirley, who is eighth-generation circus, and their three children are along for the tour. “Our manager also has three kids, and they all appear in the show,” Hamid said.

With a snappy greeting for kids of all ages, one of the larger members of the Hamid Circus troupe pauses while getting ready for the first performance of the nine-month tour.

As the weather gets warmer and business picks up on the circus circuit, Hamid will have as many as three separate groups making stops across the country. “Dad and I always joked that if we could put 52 units together, we’d work the first week of April and take the rest of the year off,” Hamid said. So what would Hamid’s great-grandfather think if he could see one of the performances of the 80th anniversary tour? “He would miss the sawdust, but he’d be amazed at the technology,” Hamid said. And he would undoubtedly appreciate that his descendants still display the flexibility it takes to put on a show.

As all the acts made their way to Dodge City to put the tour together, one group was trapped in Arkansas when Interstate 40 was closed. Trapped for three days, the performers really wanted to get on the road, but good judgment and the threat of a $1,000 fine kept them safely stranded. Not everyone was as wise. Stranded in the same location, the Harlem Globetrotters headed down the road but only made it 16 miles before getting stuck.

“We want them to get here, but we want them to be safe,” Hamid said. The group was expected to arrive in Dodge City late Friday.
read more at:http://www.dodgeglobe.com/news/x1055389645/A-circus-with-a-lot-of-history-comes-to-town?img=2

Circus Vargas returns ...

A hoops performer with Circus Vargas, which arrives at San Diego's Balboa Park on Feb. 13. (Courtesy photo)

Circus Vargas returns ---- The family-owned traveling tent circus features trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns and acrobats; 12:30, 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. (also 6:30 p.m. Monday; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday; 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 12:30, 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20); Balboa Park, Presidents Way and Park Boulevard, San Diego; $25-$60, adults; $15-$50, children ages 2 to 10; 877-468-3861 or circusvargas.com.

Ottawa SuperEx cancelled for 2011

The Ottawa SuperEx closed for the last time at Lansdowne Park, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010. Organizers have suspended the fair this summer.

Tue Feb. 08 2011

ctvottawa.ca

There will be no SuperEx in Ottawa this year.
The Central Canada Exhibition board met last Thursday to discuss the future of the annual exhibition, deciding to cancel the SuperEx for 2011.
The board says they chose to suspend this year's fair because they didn't have a firm location to host the event.
The exhibition has operated out of Lansdowne Park for the last 122 years. But redevelopment plans at the park have forced them out.
Organizers say securing a temporary location for the fair would be too costly. And development on their land on Albion Road won't be ready in time for the fair to go ahead this August.
Some say suspending the Ex this summer, puts its very existence in question.
"It's more than just a memory; there was more than a hundred years there. That's a lot of entertainment and a lot of good times. I think of the young people who will never have the joy; go on the rides; and all the excitement," said Jim Durrell, former president of the Central Canada Exhibition.
"I think it's a setback for the city. It's a sad day."
However, organizers say they hope to bring back the fair at their new location on Albion Road in 2012.
In its heyday, the Ex was the place to mark the end of summer. The fair attracted major acts from the Beach Boys to Bob Hope. Tens of thousands of people would jam the midway.
But over the years the Ex has become more of a drain on taxpayer dollars. Since 2002, the city has given the Central Canada Exhibition more than $2 million in financial aid.
Mayor Jim Watson says he regrets there won't be a fair this year, but he's hopeful the board will use the extra time to secure a location for 2012.
The Ex has been trying to find a new home for its operations since the mid-1970s. Since 1888, the exhibition has been a big summer attraction in Ottawa, running every year except during the world wars.