LA COUNTY FAIR

2012

 

It's fair time: Big E, several CT events on the calendar

Phyllis A.S. Boros
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
There's a lot that's big at the Big E.

Now billed as America's 8th largest fair, the Big E again will reign as the regions' most spectacular exposition on 175 acres in West Springfield, Mass., opening Friday, Sept. 14, and running through Sunday, Sept. 30

The 17-day fair -- which runs rain or shine -- opens with a "Be A Kid for A Day" special; all ages pay the children's price of $10.

Opening day also will be observed as Military Appreciation Day, with free admission for military personnel and dependents, and veterans with identification.

A celebration of all things New England (including its foods, arts, crafts and fall traditions such as giant pumpkins), the Big E attracts visitors from throughout the country.

In 1917, when it was founded by community leaders as an agricultural celebration, the Big E 138,000 people visited. Last year's official count: 1,201,428 -- and that was with eight days of rain and a string of uncomfortably hot and humid afternoons.

"That number could grow significantly should the weather be dry and warm and the `staycation' trends of the past few years" hold true, says Catherine Pappas, Big E communications manager.

In 2012, many audience favorites will return: concerts, a plethora of food outlets, amusement rides, horse shows and equestrian competitions, agricultural exhibits, an arts and crafts village, circus performances, cooking demonstrations, daily parades at 5 p.m., exhibits of farm animals and "shop-'til-you-drop" opportunities.
Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/It-s-fair-time-Big-E-several-CT-events-on-the-3857776.php#ixzz26FECUvJD


From Sarasota--

 

 

Bello and Mike Naughton backstage after the premiere performance of "An Evening with Bello Nock" in Sarasota.

Carson and Barnes Circus set for Friday

 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012
from: Daily Dunklin Democrat
 As part of their 76th consecutive year of touring the USA, Carson & Barnes Circus, the largest traveling big top tent circus in America will visit Kennett on Friday, September 14 at the former Emerson Electric plant. The Kennett Jaycees and Three Rivers College are sponsoring the circus to help raise money for the Jaycees's various community projects.
 Show times are scheduled on Friday at 4:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets purchased at local ticket outlets offer the best value. You can buy tickets locally up to twenty four hours before the first show at First National Bank, Kennett National Bank, Senath State Bank, Unico Bank, and the Kennett Chamber of Commerce.

For the best value, fans should buy their advance tickets from local outlets: Adult's tickets will be $14, children's tickets will be $6; or at the gate on Circus Day, Adult's tickets will be $16, and children's tickets will be $8. Tickets can also be purchased online at the Circus website at www.BigTopShow.com. Tickets bought online incur a per-ticket charge of $1.50.

Circus fans can get discount coupons at area retailers or download a money-saving $4 off coupon from the Circus website at www.BigTopShow.com and apply that discount to the purchase of all adult tickets at the gate, from local outlets, or when buying online.

Carson & Barnes is "The Real Circus," with everything fans expect to see under the big top: Clowns, acrobats, aerial daredevils, spectacular pageantry, and a cast of amazing performing animals led by the biggest stars of the show, the Carson & Barnes Asian elephants. Starring in this season's show is "Alex the Clown." Like many of those appearing in the Circus, Alex Acero has spent his life performing. As a headliner in Las Vegas and with several of the largest Latin American circuses, Alex keeps the children laughing while keeping the adults on the edges of their seats with his daring gymnastics.
 read more:
http://www.dddnews.com/story/1892651.html

Final Stretch for Big E Preparations

from: wggb.com

September 10th, 2012

Protesters fight for fair animal treatment at local circus

from: wmbfnews.com

Posted: Sep 11, 2012

By Monique Blair - email

WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

MYERS INTERNATIONAL MIDWAYS
AT THE WEST TENNESSEE STATE FAIR
JACKSON


All photos by  KATIE COOPER/The Jackson Sun
The first night of the West Tennessee State Fair was located at the Jackson Fairground, Tuesday September 11, 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

West Tennessee State Fair in town through Sunday
Event kicks off with celebration of 50 years for Chicken Shack

 

The first night of the West Tennessee State Fair kicked off on Tuesday. KATIE COOPER/The Jackson Sun
Written by Priya Narapareddy
from:  jacksonsun.com
Sep 12, 2012 
Richard and Loreen Griffis said they commend Madison County’s 4-H for the opportunities the program gives to children, including their own.

Richard Griffis said his two oldest children are members of 4-H. He said working at the Chicken Shack at The West Tennessee State Fair is a service requirement for 4-H members.

“4-H gives kids a sense of direction in their lives and (promotes) good leadership,” Griffis said.

The Griffis family worked at the 4-H Chicken Shack on Tuesday during the opening night of the West Tennessee State Fair, when the popular vendor held a dinner to commemorate 50 years of service at 5 p.m. after the fair’s opening ceremonies.
antique tractor pull, an ATV and UTV pull, as well as Midway rides, a petting zoo by Hooker Farms, and concessions.

Richard Griffis said the Chicken Shack is the biggest annual fundraiser for Madison County’s 4-H. He said he has worked at the Chicken Shack for seven years.

 

The public could learn about the state parks and pet birds at the first night of the West Tennessee State Fair at the Jackson Fairgrounds on Tuesday. KATIE COOPER/The Jackson Sun
“We have a lot of fun doing this,” he said. “This is how we raise funds for students to go on trips.”

Grisham Griffis, 15, said he has already worked 30 hours at the shack this year in order to attend the group’s yearly trip to Gatlinburg.

Grisham Griffis said he has enjoyed the friendships he has made through 4-H and working at the shack.

“We learn teamwork here,” he said.

The West Tennessee State Fair will continue at the Jackson Fairgrounds through Sunday
read more:
http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20120912/NEWS01/309120005

 

County fair opens today
 Parade kicks off at 5:30 this evening

 

 

Keith Rector of Archway Amusement cleans the Fun Slide at the Baxter County Fairgrounds on Tuesday. The fair parade starts at 5:30 p.m. today. Kevin Pieper/The Baxter Bulletin
Writting by Bulletin Staff
from:  baxterbulletin.com
The aromas of cotton candy, popcorn and funnel cakes will be wafting from the midway at the Baxter County Fairgrounds this evening as the 2012 Baxter County Fair formally gets under way.

Throughout the day, entries in a wide range of categories are to be judged. Commercial booths are to open at 5 p.m., as is Archway Amusements’ carnival. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students in grades 1-12 and children 6 and younger will be admitted free.

In the meantime, the annual fair parade through downtown Mountain Home kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Leading the parade will be the 2012 Baxter County Fair Queen, Brittany Sims.
read more:
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20120912/NEWS01/309120025/County-fair-opens-today?nclick_check=1

‘Honey, I bought a fair!’

 

 

The State Fair of Virginia’s 331-acre home is known as The Meadow. It was purchased earlier this year by Universal Fairs owner Mark Lovell. Illustrates STATEFAIR-ADV01 (category l) by Ken Otterbourg, special to The Washington Post. Moved Thursday, August 30, 2012. (MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by Norm Shafer).
By KEN OTTERBOURG
from: The Washington Post
September 11, 2012
DOSWELL, Va. – Before bankers make a big deal, they like to run something called a Monte Carlo. It is named for the city in Monaco and its gambling houses, and it works like this: The lenders plug in the numbers and variables of a deal, then run a series of complex computer simulations to see what can go wrong. The fewer avenues to failure, the more confidence there is in a project’s success.

But as anyone who has ever lost money on a sure thing can attest, the odds are only odds. They are predictive – but only to a point. Which is why a few months back on a beautiful spring day, there was an auction in Caroline County, Va., just beyond the shadow of the monster roller coaster at Kings Dominion. What all the Monte Carlos had indicated was extremely unlikely to happen had in fact happened.

The auction was not that different from the hundreds of thousands of foreclosure sales that have taken place on courthouse steps across America. A borrower had taken on too much debt and couldn’t repay the loans. The lenders’ patience was exhausted, and the negotiations through the bankruptcy process had failed. All that was left on this day was the singsong chant of the auctioneer that ends with the word “sold.”

The 331-acre property belonged to the State Fair of Virginia, which, for most of the past 150 years, has been the annual event where kids from the country showed sheep and where folks from the city wandered around eating corn dogs. In many places, the state fair is run by the government. Not in Virginia. A nonprofit group ran the fair. It had a board filled with important people who know how to get things done. They borrowed $85 million to build a new fairgrounds here, beyond the sprawl. Maybe it was a sound bet, but it was a bet just the same, and when circumstances changed, they lost everything and had to sell it all, down to the dirt.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/living/lifestyles/974827-469/honey-i-bought-a-fair.html#

Fair Goers Remember Floods One Year Ago

From: WNEP TV

September 5, 2012

SOUNDS OF THE YORK FAIR

from: ydr.com

AGE & WEIGHT SCALE

 

Bill and I had the same type scale on our first
Fool the Guesser Stand.
I happened on this photo of one for sale.
I almost had a heart attack when I say the price--2250.00
I beleive we paid 300.00 for ours and the chair was a nice wooden folding chair.
We purchased it from a sifn painter in Gibsonton who told us that it had been used
on Coney Island.

Coney Island Meets Palisades Amusement Park

From the Archives, fortless.patch.com

By Tom Meyers

September 7, 2012
The Coney Island Sideshow Circus comes to Fort Lee Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Jack Alter Fort Lee Community Center in the final Movies & Music Under the Stars program of the season.

The world famous Coney Island Sideshow Circus leaves Surf Avenue in Brooklyn and comes to the Jack Alter Fort Lee Community Center for a live free show on Saturday, Sept.8, as part of the Fort Lee Film Commission’s final Movies & Music Under the Stars program of the 2012 season.

This 10-week, free program has offered wonderful live music and fantastic films to the people of Fort Lee thanks to the support of the borough and our sponsors, including Universal Studios.

Our final program is one chosen carefully in that it connects in a real way to our past; that past being the colorful Palisades Amusement Park.

This weekly "Archives" column has covered the history of Palisades Amusement Park upside and down, but in all our columns about the park that lived atop our Palisades from 1898 to 1971, we missed one specific part of the park, and that is its connection to the all American circus/sideshow.

During the 1950s, the Clyde Beatty Circus had become a regular event at Palisades Amusement Park. According to Vince Gargiulo in his wonderful book Palisades Amusement Park: A Century of Fond Memories:

Clyde Beatty, originally associated with Ringling Brothers, struck out on his own after Ringling closed its tent shows and changed to an indoor format. Many of the featured performers from Ringling Brothers went with Clyde Beatty – including the world’s most famous clown, Emmett Kelly, and those death-defying aerialists, the Wallendas. The circus opened at Palisades Amusement Park at the start of each season and ran for six weeks. Eventually the Clyde Beatty Circus combined with the Hamid Morton Circus, and this new troupe was later replaced by the Hunt Brothers Circus. The circus remained a regular attraction at the Park for almost a decade, until concessionaires began complaining that patrons spent too much time at the circus and not enough in the Park. These complaints – in addition to the fact that the circus, which was set up in the parking lot, took away spaces for cars – led to the end of the big top at Palisades Amusement Park.

The Park also instituted a Freak Animal Show and Flea Circus in the 1950s. Arch & Maie McAskill ran The Palace of Illusions, which showcased Tom Thumb, the little horse and the two-headed calf.

In a tip of the hat to Palisades Amusement Park, we have imported a show from the boardwalks of Brooklyn for Saturday's final Movies & Music Under the Stars program of the year, the Coney Island Sideshow Circus.

This is a throwback show that children of all ages will enjoy. For one night, tear yourself away from your iPads, iPhones and iPods and get an old fashioned eyeful of a vanishing American art form.

About this column: A weekly look at historical images and their significance from the archives of the Fort Lee Film Commission and the Fort Lee Historical Society

 

World famous clown Emmett Kelly starring in the Clyde Beatty Circus at Palisades Amusement Park, circa 1959.Credit Courtesy of the Fort Lee Historical Society

 
The Great Wallendas as they do their high wire act at circus at Palisades Amusement Park, circa April 14, 1962.Credit Courtesy of the Fort Lee Historical Society

Beatty - Cole - Hamid Circus at Palisades Amusement Park, circa 1958.Credit Courtesy of the Fort Lee Historical Society

  1960 Superman Palisades Amusement Park ad for Circus.Credit Courtesy of the Fort Lee Historical Society

Exterior of the home of the Coney Island Sideshow Circus in Coney Island, USA.Credit Courtesy of Sideshows by the Seashore

 

Coney Island Sideshow Circus performers.Credit Courtesy of Sideshows by the Seashore

Giffords Circus--U.K.

Published on May 29, 2012 by GiffordsCircusVideo

Giffords Circus proudly presents...

The Saturday Book 2012, the glamour of all things unusual.

Russian Circus

Published on Sep 7, 2012 by RusCircusRu

Russian Circus #2

Published on Sep 7, 2012 by RusCircusRu