THE BALLOON MAN

BYRON BUFORD, 90, CIRCUS MUSICIAN & ARTIST

from: The Iowa Press-Citizen, June 20, 2011
Noted artist and musician Byron Leslie Burford passed away in his sleep Friday evening at the age of 90. Byron was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 12, 1920, and grew up in Greenville, Mississippi along with contemporaries Shelby Foote and Walker Percy. Byron's interest in the circus and sideshows was piqued when The Tom Mix Circus came to Greenville In the early 30's. Byron's father, who ran the Greenville YMCA, invited the show people to use the pool and showers at the Y. It was there that Byron met Tom Mix, the cowboy legend, and wrangled an invitation to join the Tom Mix Circus for a few days. Byron's father agreed to let him go, assuming he would quickly lose interest, but it was instead a seminal moment and the beginning of his life-long fascination with the circus.

In 1933, Byron's father took him to the Chicago World's Fair where they also visited the Art Institute. Byron was so impressed by the paintings that he recalled, "I did not know what these things were. They were huge, that big El Greco was 30 feet high. They had no relationship to anything I'd seen. And I said I don't know who did these or what they are but that's what I want to do the rest of my life."
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