TONIGHT!

.Clown Hall of Fame & American Pickers UNITE!

The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center to be featured on History Channel’s top rated “American Pickers”Monday, December 27, 2010, 9:00pm Eastern, 8:00 pm Central Time.Check local listings for other times.
Always looking for new and different venues to find unique and rare treasures, the American Pickers found a perfect match at the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center in its new home in Baraboo, WI.
Guided by Executive Director Greg DeSanto and his wife Karen, Hosts Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe were given a fast paced slapstick indoctrination into the world of clowning at the only museum in the world devoted exclusively to the preservation of the art of the clown.
Digging through the vast collection of non clown related circus oddities the American Pickers discovered a unique story behind each item. They also gained new knowledge of the vast circus history that defines Baraboo, WI.

at the ST PETE TIMES FORUM

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents Fully Charged

Dates and Times:Wednesday, January 05, 2011 7:30 PM

Thursday, January 06, 2011 7:30 PM

Friday, January 07, 2011 7:30 PM

Saturday, January 08, 2011 11:30 AM

Saturday, January 08, 2011 3:30 PM

Saturday, January 08, 2011 7:30 PM

Sunday, January 09, 2011 1:00 PM

Sunday, January 09, 2011 5:00 PM
On Sale: Now
Ticket Prices: $15.00, $20.00 and $25.00. VIP packages and specialty seating are priced at $35.00, $55.00 and $85.00.

THE COSTUME DEPARTMENT

HOXIE BROS CIRCUS 1978 PROGRAM PART 1

Please be sure and click on each page to enlarge & read!

HOXIE BROS. CIRCUS PROGRAM, 1978 PART 1

( TO BE CONTINUED TOMMORROW!)

ODDS & ENDS FROM THE PAST

Circus City lives up to its name again in 2010
By Tim Damos, News Republic

December 27, 2010
Last year, the Baraboo News Republic picked Circus World Museum's 50th anniversary as the top story of 2009.
Although the museum isn't on the BNR's list this year, a different story connecting the circus city with its magical past kicks off our countdown to the top news story of 2010.
10: ‘Send in the clowns'
In January, the News Republic reported that an international organization dedicated to historic preservation was moving its headquarters to Baraboo and had picked some local clown as its new leader.
Think they picked the wrong man?
Think again.
The aforementioned organization was the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center, which moved its memorabilia from a Milwaukee-based storage unit to an office in downtown Baraboo.
The non-profit then selected Baraboo entertainer Greg DeSanto, one half of a husband and wife clown team, as its new executive director.
If you haven't yet had a chance to visit the new location, you might want to tune into the History Channel tonight when the International Clown Hall of Fame will be featured on the show "American Pickers" at 8 p.m.

Big Dome circus features Beijing Olympics acrobats

(The Philippine Star) December 27, 2010

MANILA, Philippines – Two years after the spellbinding and dramatic display of music, fireworks, dancing and pageantry during the Beijing Olympics, the same group of acrobats is in town to regale Filipino audiences with their jaw-dropping performances.
Fifty-two members of the famed Grand China National Acrobatic Troupe recently planed in the country for a series of performances billed as Splendide: The Grand China National Acrobatics Circus at the Araneta Coliseum.
The show is ongoing and will run until Jan. 2. For ticket inquiries, contact Ticketnet at 911-5555.
These are the same acrobats that tasked by Beijing’s Sports Commission to perform at the “Bird’s Nest”, the national stadium known as such because of its steel lattice construction. During that time, acrobats and dancers from the Grand China National Troupe executed flips and other gymnastic feats on the surface of a multi-story globe in front of more than 90,000 fans at the “Bird’s Nest” and four billion more around the world. It was reported that the choreographed show took seven years to plan.
From the world stage to the Big Dome, Filipinos get the rare chance to experience these eye-catching and amazing numbers this holiday season.

Fair Trouble: Former director faces charges involving culture of ‘entitlement’

Monday, December 27, 2010, 5:00

By The Post-Standard Editorial Board
On the closing night of the New York State Fair, former director Peter Cappuccilli and his family used to take a turn on the go-kart course near the Grandstand. It seemed like harmless fun — and a deserved capstone for weeks worth of unrelenting work.
Today, however, Cappuccilli stands accused of abusing his position for personal advantage. He faces charges of criminal corruption and official misconduct. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo claims that among other things, the former fair director arranged self-serving backroom deals for lavish parties, including the weddings of his two daughters, using state resources and trying to hide the incriminating evidence.
Cuomo’s case is based on a scathing report issued earlier this year by state Inspector General Joseph Fisch. According to Fisch, Cappuccilli personally benefited by some $78,000, and the fair misspent $860,000 between the time of his appointment by Gov. George Pataki in 1995 and his retirement in 2006.
It’s a painful stumble for Cappuccilli, 60, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Geddes town Court last Monday. Few would argue with his successful record managing the fair’s staff of 75 and $15 million annual budget. He set the fair’s first million-plus attendance records in 2001 and 2002; made the fair self-supporting while attracting more than $2 million in corporate sponsorships; increased revenue from $8.5 million to $16 million. Cappuccilli listened and responded to suggestions, incorporating good ideas as he went along.
But Cappuccilli also may have succumbed to an inherent temptation, one well-expressed earlier this year by his successor, Dan O’Hara: “the sense of entitlement was systemic.”
Starting with the nod from a political mentor, continuing with the annual distribution of complimentary tickets, hiring relatives and awarding no-bid contracts, the fair director can exercise powers akin to a feudal lord.
The fair director has an advisory board to provide advice and feedback. But the board hasn’t met for years. Cuomo wants a reactivated board with experienced, trained members to help keep a fair director on track — even though it lacks the power to set or veto policy.
Thanks in part to Cappuccilli, the state fair today is the nation’s 13th largest. Directors of other large fairs are answerable to experienced governing boards. It’s time for New York to consider a similar restructuring of its own state fair.

Yerevan State Circus to start Christmas performances from December 25
December 25, 2010

from:http://news.am/eng/news/42947.html

By tradition, along with its own pre-holiday performances, Yerevan State Circus presents Christmas performances of their Russian colleagues to the Armenian audience on New Year’s Eve. However, according to an Armenian circus actor, Russian acrobats will not perform to the Armenian audience this year.
On December 25-30, Yerevan State Circus will play “Christmas performances”, called “Circus miracles” to the audience. Only Armenian actors will play in the performances. The ticket price will range in from AMD 1000 to AMD 2000. The New Year performances will be played from January 3-13.

Despite ban, elephants still tradable cattle in Haryana

Dec 25, 2010
CHANDIGARH: Despite a ban on elephant trading, jumbos can be bought and sold in Haryana thanks to loopholes in the state's Village Cattle Fair Act (1970).
The act, amended twice, continues to have elephants on its list of tradable animals at rural cattle fairs.
The state act violates the Wildlife Protection Act (1972) that puts elephants in the protected category and bars their domestication. The definition of tradable cattle in Haryana includes buffaloes, camels, cows, donkeys, elephants, horses and mules.
The WWF considers the Indian elephant - numbered around 25,000 - endangered. The Asian Elephant Specialist Group, however, declared it endangered in 1996.
The procedure for trading is simple. The traders need to register themselves at cattle fairs, pay a fee, sell elephants and pay some commission to the fair organisers.
Read more: Despite ban, elephants still tradable cattle in Haryana - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Despite-ban-elephants-still-tradable-cattle-in-Haryana/articleshow/7160230.cms#ixzz198OnKMXS

Elmer R. "Dick" Sparrow, 1929-2010: Zearing farmer hitched up 40-horse team

REGISTER FILE PHOTO

Dick Sparrow of Zearing guides a 40-horse hitch of Belgian draft horses in 1973. Each horse weighed about 2,000 pounds.
By DANIEL P. FINNEY • dafinney@dmreg.com •
December 26, 2010
Elmer R. "Dick" Sparrow, a Zearing farmer who in the 1970s revived the spectacle of driving a team of 40 horses, died Thursday. His family said the cause of death was leukemia. He was 81.
Sparrow rose to national fame in 1972 when he hitched and drove 40 Belgian draft horses in the Fourth of July Schlitz Circus Parade in Milwaukee. More than a million people watched Sparrow's feat of strength and manual dexterity in Milwaukee, with more watching on television.
A repeat performance in Zearing on Labor Day that year - with Gov. Robert Ray beside Sparrow in the driver's seat - drew 50,000 to the Story County town of about 500.
"The first time I took the lines in my hands I never felt anything so awesome in my life," Sparrow told the Chicago Tribune in 1972. "It's a little like holding back a locomotive under a full head of steam with me at the throttle."
Sparrow was born and raised on a Zearing farm where horses had been raised since 1872.
One of three children, he learned how to lead horses through farm gates at age 3 and by age 4 could ride the farm's Percherons by himself.
READ MORE AT:http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101226/NEWS/12260328/-1/statewrestling/Elmer-R.-Dick-Sparrow-1929-2010-Zearing-farmer-hitched-up-40-horse-team

Moments in Time

The History Channel
• On Jan. 9, 1768,

Englishman Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London. Astley, a former cavalry sergeant major, found that if he galloped in a tight circle, centrifugal force allowed him to perform seemingly impossible feats on a horse’s back. He invited the public to see him wave his sword in the air while he rode with one foot on the saddle and one on the horse’s head.

Shrine Circus gears up for Flint in mid-January

File For the Flint Journal

Performers in the Flint Shrine Circus amaze the crowd with some acrobatics, leaping from pole to pole.
Saturday, December 25, 2010, By Brenda Wiegand Booth Mid-Michigan
Get in the ring — of seats that is — for the 68th Annual Flint Shrine Circus!
Twelve fun filled shows, from Jan. 13-17, are coming the Perani Arena, 3501 Lapeer in Flint.
Show times are: 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13; 10 a.m.,4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14; 11 a.m. , 3 p.m. 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15; and 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday, Jan. 16-17.
Tickets are: Reserved: $16 adults; $14 children 12 and younger; General admission: $14 adults; $12 children 12 and younger. Children 2 and younger, on a lap, free.
For tickets visit www.peraniarena.com or call (810) 744-0580.
Proceeds from the local event benefit the Shriners in the Flint community.

BROOKE EVANS MODELS #1

My Friend Brooke Evans, circus fan-model builder & carnival manager

sent me these pictures recently and I thought this would be a nice

Christmas Post.

BROOKE EVANS MODELS