THE BALLOON MAN

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

CIRCUS PROGRAMS
FROM THE 50'S

I don't beleive I've ever seen a carnival program!

IAAPA Attractions Expo preview

More than 25,000 representatives from amusement park industry are in Orlando this week to buy new rides, attend educational seminars and network with other professionals.
from: cfnews.com
By Scott Fais, Feature Reporter
November 12, 2012
ORLANDO --
The sounds of hand saws, drills and forklifts are in the air at the Orange County Convention Center.

"They have already started putting up everything in the outdoor space," says Jan Addison, the deputy general manager of the Orange County Convention Center. "It's the best of both worlds."

The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, IAAPA as the association is known, stages their annual expo each November.

"You can see everything here from popcorn to double looping roller coasters and everything in between," explains Jack Mendes, the president of Volusia County-based Bob's Space Racers Group.

Orlando is IAAPA's home through 2019. On average, 25,000 people can attend and deposit more than $47 million dollars to the local economy.

"Everybody is out here. We put a lot of time and energy into making this show good for ourselves and our customers," comments Jason Mons, General Manager with Utah-based roller coaster and ride manufacturer S&S-Sansei.
read more:
http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/on-the-town/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2012/11/12/iaapa_attractions_ex.html

Bending Over Backwards for Circus Success

By Vicki Chen

Monday, November 12, 2012

story

If you’re thinking about running away to join the circus, you won’t have to go far.

Kinetic Theory Circus Arts is a local studio where kids, teens and adults train every day, some hoping to make it big in the circus world.

http://www.atvn.org/news/2012/11/bending-over-backwards-circus-success

The circus in all its glory and seaminess

From the book jacket
Reviewed by Glenn C. Altschuler
from: philly.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The American Circus
Edited by Susan Weber, Kenneth Ames, and Matthew Wittman
Yale University Press. 472 pp. $65
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1835, the citizens of Salem, Mass., assembled en masse on Main Street to watch a parade that marked the start of the unofficial holiday called Circus Day.
"One pair of eyes seemed hardly sufficient" to take in all the attractions advertised by the troupe, a reporter exclaimed. "Here are two huge elephants, a band of music, and a train of wagons. There is a procession of Circus mummers in the most fantastic garb, mounted upon piebald horses, with trumpets sounding, and clowns chattering on the necks of their steeds."

Invented by the British, the circus (the term refers to the structure housing the activities) acquired a distinctive identity and pride of place in American popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. In The American Circus, a volume designed to accompany a fall 2012 exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center in New York, more than a dozen scholars examine the appeal of "The Greatest Show on Earth" in urban and rural settings; its business practices and uses of technology; its attractions (acrobats, elephants, cats, clowns, and calliopes); its decline; and its dark side (cruelty to animals and "freak shows"). Beautifully illustrated, informative, and engaging, The American Circus will delight kids of all ages.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20121113_The_circus_in_all_its_glory_and_seaminess.html#ixzz2C6qMBla9
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

Big Apple Circus: History and thrills under the big top

Bertrand Guay/Big Apple Circus
Animal trainer Jenny Vidbel might be upstaged by her talented canine castmembers
FROM: metro.us
ELIZABETH ZIMMER
NEW YORK
November 12, 2012
This season's Big Apple Circus, "Legendarium," blends a little French into its New York accent. Celebrating the history of this family-friendly art form, the show's clever designs and wonderful live band carry the audience back to 1859 when Jules Leotard performed the first flying trapeze act in Paris and gave his name to the ubiquitous dancewear.
Ringmaster John Kennedy Kane's big, deep voice keeps us apprised of the action, but everything else is wordless: acrobats jump over a pair of oxen, a dozen gorgeous horses circle in elaborate patterns, a beautiful contortionist ties herself in knots and shoots an arrow -- with her feet!
read more;
http://www.metro.us/newyork/entertainment/article/1156052--big-apple-circus-history-and-thrills-under-the-big-top

Rosie & Opal Go to Heaven

from: wunderground.com
Posted by: shoreacres on November 12, 2012
For years I’d been side-stepping Hugo without a thought. Heading north from Houston toward the east side of Kansas City, my route never varied: Lufkin, Nacogdoches and Paris in Texas, a quick slide through Oklahoma on the Indian Nation and Will Rogers turnpikes, a swing around Joplin and an easy final leg up to Blue Springs.
Tucked into a bend in the road at the southern terminus of the Indian Nation, bereft of glitzy billboards or even a retro gas station at the intersection, Hugo is all but invisible from the four-lane. If you’re just passing through with no reason to take the business route into town, you could be excused for thinking Hugo resembles other hamlets clustered along the Texas-Oklahoma border - Powderville, Arthur City, Frogville.
I wasn’t sure what I’d find in Hugo, but I’d had my curiosity piqued and decided a visit was in order. After all, the Evergreen Cemetery in Paris may have Willet Babcock’s fancied-up tomb topped with a life-sized Jesus wearing cowboy boots, but Hugo’s Mt. Olivet boasts three world championship rodeo cowboys, the original Marlboro Man and William Edmond Ansley, one of twenty or so midgets who made a career of promoting “Buster Brown” shoes across the country.
Even more famous is the section of Mt. Olivet called “Showman’s Rest”. Filled with a multitude of memorials to clowns, trapeze artists, bareback riders and elephant trainers, it’s one of the primary year-round attractions of an Oklahoma town that likes to bill itself “Circus City, USA”.
read more at:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/shoreacres/comment.html?entrynum=181

Sunday, November 11, 2012

THE "BALLOONMAN"
1985

New York exhibit captures historical life of circus

BRUCE WHITE/SOMERS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A late-19th-century painted wood and metal circus wagon wheel
from: bostonglobe.com
By Sebastian Smee, Globe Staff
November 10, 2012
NEW YORK — Jumbo the elephant died, holding his keeper’s hand in his trunk, on Sept. 15, 1885. The giant pachyderm, not yet 30 years old but more famous than any elephant before or since, had been hit by a freight train after an evening performance in St. Thomas, Ontario.
The train was derailed. Jumbo was dead within minutes.

The circus impresario P.T. Barnum had purchased Jumbo from the Royal Zoological Society in London three years earlier, for $10,000. The six-ton elephant arrived in New York in April 1882. Watched by huge crowds, he was carted up Broadway, pulled by a team of horses and two smaller elephants.
For Barnum, the elephant proved a great investment. Propelled by an unprecedented advertising blitz, “Jumbomania” swept through New York and thence the whole country, helping Barnum and his partners reap a record profit of $600,000 in Jumbo’s first season alone. The elephant obsession was stoked by a flood of merchandise, everything from toys and trading cards to glassware, which helped transform Barnum’s circus business into an entertainment empire.

Felix Adler's Hat (circa 1940's-50's)
And now Jumbo was gone. What was Barnum to do?
read more--
http://bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2012/11/10/new-york-exhibit-captures-historical-life-circus-city-circus-thrived-with-new-leisure-and-advertising/oVQpZkyXdngNO1TvHYjtKK/story.html

The National Circus of the People’s Republic of China to perform at GPAC

by Staff report
from: robesonian.com
November 10, 2012
PEMBROKE, NC — The National Circus of the People’s Republic of China will perform Cirque Chinois at the Givens Performing Arts Center at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

The troupe was founded in 1953, making it one of the longest running circus troupes in China.

According to Tasha Oxendine, director of marketing for the Givens Performing Arts Center, the performance is distinct.

“This award-winning circus-stage event has very unique acts in their program such as the grand flying trapeze, group contortion, straw hats juggling, girls’ balance with bowls and many other outstanding acts,” Oxendine said.

Things to do in Tampa Bay for Nov. 11
By Michelle Stark, Times Staff Writer
Sunday, November 11, 2012

Cirque du Soleil's Kooza: The Grand Chapiteau is back for this show, with traditional circus elements like clowns and daredevil acrobatics. It's at 1 and 5 p.m. outside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. $43.50-$143.50 adults; $33-$104.50 ages 2-12. Toll-free 1-800-450-1480.

Small audience gets special visit with big circus cats

Alexander Lacey answers the questions of students from Rosemont Elementary School after working with big cats.
photo by JOE LEWNARD | Staff Photographer
By Daily Herald report
from: dailyherald.com
11/10/2012
Children from schools in Rosemont and Chicago were treated to a special visit Friday with the big cats and one of the world’s foremost trainers.
Alexander Lacey, whose family has raised more than 11 generations of lions and nine generations of tigers, is one of only a handful of top trainers worldwide to work with both lions and tigers in the same act.
Having performed throughout Europe and earned many of the circus world’s most prestigious awards, Lacey is making his American debut as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus presents “Dragons.”
On Friday at the Allstate Arena, Lacey and the big cats spent more than an hour delighting his young audience by taking them through a training session.
Sitting on the arena floor, just outside the training cage, the children were close enough to hear Lacey communicate with the cats in both English and German, and witness up-close the uncanny bond between the cats and the trainer who knows them so well he can distinguish each by its own unique physical characteristics, behaviors and even the sound of its roar.
“Dragons” remains at the Allstate Arena this weekend before it moves to the United Center Nov. 14-25.
read more--
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20121110/news/711109935/

Manatee horse trainer's Rural TV show debuts Sunday

"Smile!," says Heidi Herriott as she coaxes a grin from her 13-year-old horse Lady Dancer at Longbranch Stable in Parrish. Herriott, an experienced horse entertainer and trainer, is bringing her unique skillset to bear in a new television show called "HorseTrix," which will debut Sunday on Rural TV. Herriott is also teaching and training riders at Longbranch Stable to develop better relationships with their horses as they learn tricks together.

Photo by PAUL VIDELA/Bradenton Herald
By NICK WILLIAMS
from: BRADENTON.COM
November 10, 2012
PARRISH -- For decades, Manatee's Heidi Herriott has entertained the masses as a horse performer.

Now America will get to share in her knowledge.

On Sunday at 6:30 p.m.," Heidi Herriott's HorseTrix," a new series on Rural TV, will hit the airwaves. In the show, Herriott teaches viewers how to train their horses to do special tricks and offer general rules of good horsemanship.

The television station can be found on the Dish Satellite Network on channel 232 and beginning in January, will air on FamilyNet. Clips will also be available on Herriott's website, www.heidiherriott.com.

So far, episodes of the 22-week series has been filmed in Wisconsin and Orlando. An episode will be filmed in Parrish on Dec. 6.
Herriott has performed at Walt Disney World, Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus, Six Flags Parks and at multiple state and county fairs, rodeos and horse shows. She has also appeared on the "Today" show and "Good Morning America" and has conducted clinics around the nation.
read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/11/10/4273046/manatee-horse-trainers-rural-tv.html#storylink=cpy

Games, wild rides lure crowds to Space Coast State Fair

From: floridatoday.com

Written by Stacey Barchenger, FLORIDA TODAY

Nov 10, 2012

Space Coast State Fair: The 26th annual fair has lots to offer, but for many fairgoers Friday night is the night to go on rides. Video by Stacey Barchenger, FLORIDA TODAY.

Space Coast State Fair Opens:

The Space Coast State Fair returns to Space Coast Stadium for another season of rides, music and fun.

Posted November 9, 2012

read more---

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20121110/NEWS01/311100030/Games-wild-rides-lure-crowds-Space-Coast-State-Fair

Volusia County Fair draws crowds
from: news-journal.com
November 5, 2012

(News-Journal / David Massey)
The midway fills with people as the sun goes down on the Volusia County Fair in DeLand on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012. (Daytona Beach News-Journal / David Massey).
DELAND — The Volusia County Fair and Youth Show continued to draw fun-seekers from around the county and beyond Monday evening.
According to David Viers, executive director of the Volusia County Fair Association, attendance so far, as measured by the amount of ticket revenue, is so far near or exceeding record levels set in 2007.
"Right now, we're up approximately around 15 percent (over 2011), but we have to wait until the end of the week to see where we're at," said Viers.

NEWS-JOURNAL / PETER BAUER
Night begins to fall at the 68th Annual Volusia County Fair and Youth Show, east of DeLand, on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. (Peter Bauer)

(News-Journal / David Massey)
Kids and adults marvel at the games and toys along the midway at the Volusia County Fair in DeLand on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012. (Daytona Beach News-Journal / David Massey).

NEWS-JOURNAL / PETER BAUER
Fairgoers stop for a treat at the 68th Annual Volusia County Fair and Youth Show, east of DeLand, on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. (Peter Bauer)
read more--
http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20121105/NEWS/311059962

Crowds up as West Alabama State Fair nears end

Marion R. Walding | Tuscaloosa News
Megan Escue, left, and Katelyn Vest, students at the University of Alabama, wait in line for food at the West Alabama State Fair at Sokol Park on Friday.
By Mark Hughes Cobb, Staff Writer
from: tuscaloosanews.com
November 10, 2012
Numbers seemed to be picking up at the West Alabama State Fair on Friday night, perhaps because of slightly warmer, dry weather, said Brenda S. Ewart, development director of United Cerebral Palsy of West Alabama Inc., which organizes the annual event at Munny Sokol Park as a fundraiser. Some may have waited it out earlier in the week, hoping for more temperate nights, she said.
“The cold weather has hurt us,” she said. “I hate that because the rides company is so much nicer this year.”
For its fourth year at Sokol, the fair brought in Kissel Entertainment to provide rides and carnival games.

11-09-2012 -- Tuscaloosa, Ala. -- Fairgoers look on as others ride the Thunder Bolt at the West Alabama State Fair at Sokol Park Friday, Nov. 9, 2012.
(Marion R Walding | The Tuscaloosa News)
Many of the familiar, traditional rides are spread over the acreage around the Ray Jenkins Horse Arena at Sokol, including a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel and a plethora of children's ride-arounds in car, boat, motorcycle, train, dinosaur and other shiny models.
There are fun houses '50s auto style, as in the Infernal Combustion, and Mardi-Gras theme houses, with walls of illusions. Early rock pumps out of one ride, hip-hop from a mini-coaster, and pop hits out of the 90-foot free fall ride. Several — the blender-like Surge, the looping circular Fireball and free-fall Atmos-Fear — challenge hardier, older kids with twists seemingly evolved from astronaut training courses, testing resistance to zero-G, loss of orientation and centrifugal forces.
Visitors can pop balloons, pick ducks, roll Skee-Ball and go fish to win stuffed creatures ranging from a kid-dwarfing Winnie the Pooh to gorillas and Big Al lookalikes. And everywhere the smell of fried and otherwise tasty and probably un-diet-friendly foods assaults the senses: pizza, hot dogs, corn dogs, funnel cake, nachos, boiled peanuts and more.
read more--
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20121110/NEWS/121109705/1291/news?Title=Crowds-up-as-West-Alabama-State-Fair-nears-end

Giant Moonpie to fall New Year's Eve in Mobile to the sounds of the Commodores

from: wsfa.com
By Mark Wilder
Nov 09, 2012
MOBILE, AL (WSFA) -
The following is a news release from the City of Mobile, AL.
The corner of St. Joseph and St. Francis Streets in downtown Mobile will be the hot spot for New Year's fun this year. Instead of celebrating in a "Brick House," Mobile will hit the streets in the premiere New Year's Eve celebration in the Central Time Zone. The Commodores will be the headlining act as Mobile rings in 2013, along with the MoonPie Drop, a laser show and fireworks from atop the RSA BankTrust Building and in Mobile Bay.

The free events will kick off with a Mardi Gras-style parade at 7:30 p.m. that will parade through downtown. Such local and regional acts as Wet Willie Band, Hotwire, Grayson Capps and others will be performing on stages in Mobile's historic Bienville Square and at Government and Royal streets on Austal's Mardi Gras Park where two of the city's notable museums, the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center and History Museum of Mobile will be offering children's activities as the clock moves closer to the magical midnight hour At midnight, eyes in Mobile and across the Central Time Zone will be on Mobile's Mardi Gras icon – the MoonPie. The 12-foot-tall electronic MoonPie will descend from the 34-story RSA BankTrust skyrise as the city welcomes 2013 and the beginning of Mardi Gras season. This is the 5th year the iconic MoonPie has debuted as part of Mobile's New Year's Eve Celebration. Whether you prefer RC Cola or a glass of champagne, ring in the New Year in downtown Mobile.

"We looked at several locations and wanted to bring the MoonPie Drop and stage location closer together to build more enthusiasm," said Mayor Sam Jones of Mobile. "The combination of the great entertainment, the uniqueness of the MoonPie Drop and an anticipated large crowd have the makings of one amazing evening," said Jones. "Austal USA, a new sponsor, and our other sponsors are making this possible and we are delighted that 20 media markets will be counting down the new year live from Mobile, Alabama."

In addition to the smaller stages featuring local acts throughout the evening, the main stage adjacent to Bienville Square, will allow for larger crowds, better protection from the weather and great views of the MoonPie and the fireworks shows.
read more--
http://www.wsfa.com/story/20053717/giant-moonpie-to-fall-new-years-eve-in-mobile-to-the-sounds-of-the-commodores