Performer Spotlight - the Amazing Anastasini's

This month we are spotlighting a family of performers who are accomplished circus performers as well as show producers. This family represents eight generations of circus know how.

Luciano Anastasini currently performs as "Luciano's

Pound Puppies" with an adorable and charming mix of mutts who as their name suggests came from various pounds around the country. The act is fast paced, colorful and inventive. Most recently they were featured on the PBS Series - "PBS Circus" which began airing late in 2010. Luciano also performs Diablo juggling and his wife Gladis is an aerialist.

Giovanni Anastasini is a ringmaster, Diablo juggler and aerialist. His daughter Chiara is also multi-talented, she performs a breath hand balancing, as well as hula hoops and aerials. Chiara's brothers Fabio and Guiliano are accomplished in their Risley act and have spent the last few years traveling around the world.

The Anastasini's produce and perform in a variety of venues as well as their own show. The can perform in circuses, cruise ships, fairs, festivals, corporate events and more.

Their show can be performed in a building, on a stage, outdoors or when you are ready to take your event to the next level, in their own European Big Top.

Having a Big Top Circus whether at a theme park, fair, corporate event or private party takes you to the next level. It is also a fantastic options for your guests. Did you know circus tents can be heated and air conditioned? A local vendor can be hired to climate control the big top!

Some of the venues the Amazing Anastasini's have performed at

include: The Big Apple Circus, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, Busch Gardens, Disney Land, the White House for President George Bush, Circus Conelli, Wild Adventures Theme Park, the Champlain Valley Exposition and many many more.

September 2010 in Review

September is a crazy month, balancing the beginning of the new school year with a busy event schedule is always a challenge, but a welcome challenge. This month we have seen more unseasonably warm weather as well as soaking rain storms, with the occasional fall day thrown in just for kicks.

Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest of the year for fairs and festivals. The Amazing Anastasini's continued their run at the Champlain Valley Fair under the big top as well as the Nerger's Lion & Tiger Show.

Labor Day weekend events typically open on Friday which saw some inclement weather in New England, but at least if the rain has to fall let it be on a weekday. The Spencer Fair in Spencer, Massachusetts opened on Friday with Vicenta Page's Royal White Bengal Tigers as well as a return of the Flying Pages trapeze act. In addition to bringing talent to the Spencer Fair we also create and place the advertising for this event which is the largest event of the year in Worcester County. The Fair Committee in Spencer is made up of all volunteers and they truly come together to put on a really great fair with every element a fair should have. The motor sports are always the most popular events at the fair but Spencer also has a great array of entertainment for young children, a tremendously popular Karaoke contest, great 4H animals and so much more. This year the fair was fortunate enough to receive a grant to cover some improvements to the fairgrounds such as more grandstand seating and a new roof for the exhibit hall.

On Sunday we paid a visit to the Three County Fair where Adam & Elaine Burck were presenting their tiger show which features 3 golden tigers and 3 white tigers including the magnificent Spartacus probably the largest white tiger I have ever seen. Over the summer Adam & Elaine welcomed to their family a litter of cubs, 2 white & 2 golden. Their names as Zeus, Zena, Isis & Ursula. This Northampton facility has really come a long way since the end of horse racing some years ago. The fair is growing in leaps and bounds and has also received a grant to remove and rebuild the stables and well as add an indoor horse show arena and there is a long term plan in place for many more exciting changes to the fairgrounds. Our heartfelt congratulations to Bruce Shallcross and his staff at the Three County Fairgrounds.

The second weekend of September seems to come so quickly, Labor Day comes and goes and boom we're into the second weekend in a flash. The Flying Wallendas made a return engagement for Atlantic Music Productions at the Franklin County Fair in Greenfield, MA.

We also had an open air showing of the Amazing Anastasini Circus in Westport, NY on September 10th to the 12th. The show played a rather last minute engagement to tie together an upcoming date in Pennsylvania with their appearance in Vermont. For a last minute appearance they had a respectable attendance and made some good connections with organizations in neighboring communities.

On Sunday the 12th the Big O opened in Oxford, Maine. The fair also known as the Oxford County Fair had a special Community Day event and then reopened for the remainder of the Fair run on Wednesday the 15th through Saturday the 18th. We visited the fair on Wednesday where the Flying Pages made a return appearance and new for 2010 was the Cannon Lady. Jennifer Smith Schneider has played in every state in the US, Canada and seven other countries.

On Friday night the 17th we went to Guilford for the premier of the latest addition of the Flying Wallendas Super Circus with special guests the Nerger's Lion & Tiger Show. This combined show is a fantastic attraction with the Flying Wallendas performing their famous pyramids over the cage of waiting tiger and Caesar the male African Lion down below. The crowds were terrific for this spectacle and we expect that this combined show will become a popular attraction in the years to come.

The Amazing Anastasini's brought their big top circus to Moscow,PA on September 16 to the 19th as a benefit for the Pocono Equestrian Center, a therapeutic riding program for special needs children as well as a horse rescue. The turnout was a little disappointing the Scranton area has always done well for family entertainment. The Anastasini's will look into making some changes before deciding whether or not to return.

The final weekend of September was a bit quieter with a corporate event in central Massachusetts. The event had a Renaissance theme and we had the ever popular Boris the Stilt-walker appear with his "King Richard" costume as well as his "Wizard" Costume. Boris has over 25 costumes to suit nearly any occasion. Also coming in from Ohio for the event was the enchanting "Dragon Scales & Faerie Tales" with the incredible "Enchanted Wagon" strolling act. Also coming in from Ohio was the jousting team of Hole in the Wall Farm. Jousting is a medieval form of martial arts that includes tournament style games on horse back, lance passes, as well as ground combat with swords and daggers.

Time to move onward and upward into the month of October. The events are beginning to wind down here in New England but booking for 2011 is really starting to pickup. Don't hesitate to call as we are starting to put together some routes for many of the acts not only here in New England but across the country. Now is a great time to explore entertainment options for the upcoming season.

August in Review

Wow, where did the summer go? August goes by so quickly, this year was no exception.

We began where we left off, Close Encounters (Vince and Pom Pom) finished up for the Volunteer Fire Department in Bushkill. They reported bad weather throughout the run which has been par for the coarse this summer.

We also had Pam Rosaire Zoppe's Chimpfabulous at the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle. We were up to visit on the 4th, its always a wonderful ride up north, very little traffic, lovely scenery. The chimps were very well received as are all animal acts at the fair, its a long trip from Presque Isle to the closest zoo, and chimps in general are all too rare anywhere. On the way home on Wednesday we had a nice breakfast with Paul Cleary from the Houlton Fair. Meeting Paul up in Houlton is a lot like meeting Norm at Cheers, everyone knows his name!

Later on that week we had the Rehoboth Fair open, Lance Gifford returned to the fair with his amazing newly renovated stage and Lucky Bob who can really draw and audience! Our son Justin fell in love with a couple of baby rabbits at the fair and being that I grew up with pet rabbits I agreed to bring the pair home. That is what fairs are all about, family fun with agriculture. The bunnies are growing nicely, "Buffy" named for my mothers cat, Justin's favorite feline, is a tri colored mini lop bunny. The other is a cute little tan mini lop bunny with some charcoal colored shading named "Smoke" for Tony Stewart, one of Justin's favorite NASCAR drivers.

On Friday the 9th it was great to catch up with our friends at the Whaling City Festival who had a volunteers dinner hosted by Joe Eugenio (the unofficial mayor of New Bedford). Its always great when our clients include us in their celebrations. We brought a cake from Amazing Cakes, a local bakery who does an amazing job of supply us cakes with logos and special requests for our clients and family, and they taste great to boot.

Our next event was the Tri-State Fair in Vermont for Dreamland Amusements, we had the Flying Pages perform their trapeze and pony act as well as the Nerger Tigers who brought with them 3 one year old white tigers who they hand raised after the mother rejected them (quite common with the first litter) as well as an adorable 3 month old standard color cub. Of course the 12 show tigers and one male lion.

On the 21st Kieran Ridge Band performed on the main stage of City Hall Plaza in Boston for GreenFest. It was a hot, hot, hot and humid day.

Later that evening we met with a Blues artist who was opening for BB King at the Cape Cod Melody tent. George Gritzbach was recommended to us by our good long time friend Laurie Webster. George and his band had a fantastic sound and could not have been received better by the audience who gave them a standing ovation.

Our late August fairs come fast and furious, Dreamland Amusements worked with us and the Caledonia County Fair to bring the Flying Pages to Lyndonville for the first time. The Pages really enjoyed their time there and it was another fabulous drive up on Thursday the 27th to visit them. Anthony Pages had a bad fall a few weeks back and it was nice to see he was beginning to recover (the doctors want him out maybe 6 to 8 weeks). He had multiple broken bones as well as a head injury. He'll have a follow up with the doctors in the coming weeks and he is really hoping he is cleared to begin practice again. The Pages have been working very hard to keep him relaxed and healing while getting temporary replacements to fill Anthony's spot, which I know is tough for him to see.

We found time on Sunday to head up to Spencer for their annual volunteer barbeque, yes, yet another Amazing Cake!

The Flying Wallendas performed up in Union Maine for our friend and talent buyer Diana Ammon of Atlantic Music Productions, unfortunately Saturday rained too much for the fair to handle and they closed for the day at 11 am.

We stayed up in Vermont after Caledonia for set up day and opening day of the Champlain Valley Fair where we had the Nerger Tigers as well as the Anastasini Family's Big Top Circus. Saturday rained on the opening but it was nice to see Struppi Hanneford visit her daughter Nellie and grand daughter Kathy who performed on the Spanish Web for the show.

Also that same weekend Lucky Bob performed for the Cummington Fair in Massachusetts.

Busy, busy August, but busy is good!