July 2011 in Review

July is the single busiest month of the year for us.

On July1st we had the opening of 2 major events for us. . . Subfest in Groton, CT as well as the St. Joseph's County 4H Fair in South Bend, IN.

At Subfest the Naval Sub Base on the banks of the Thames River opens it gates to the public for its annual event celebrating the 4th of July. This years Subfest entertainers included a return of Bwana Jim's Wildlife Show (now in his 4th or 5th straight year a

t this event), Franzen's Elephants & Tigers and the Flying Pages aerial thrill show. Animals are always a huge hit at this event as they are at most events and tiger shows continue to draw the public in the gates.

Out in South Bend the Hot Dog Pig Races made its first

ever appearance at the St. Joesph's County 4-H Fair. Pig racing is a favorite at all kinds of events from fairs to BBQ festivals and the Hot Dog Pig Races offers up to 5 shows per day with a finale of racing Hot Dogs. Actually miniature Dachshunds dressed in buns and condiments, but it always gets a huge reaction from the crowd. I don't know what it is about pig racing but audiences gather at least 6 to 10 deep or more to catch a glimpse of this hilarious spectacle. They performed at the fair until the 9th.

On Saturday the 2nd until Monday the 4th Alexanderiathe Great performed her Houdini style escape show at the Houlton Fair in Houlton, Maine. Houlton is the last exit on I-95 before you get to the Canadian border, I also like to call it the outer most reaches of our Solar System since if you travel to Maine to see the amazing model of the solar system along route 1 you will find Pluto at the visitors center in Houlton. The models follow route 1 all the way into Presque Isle. Alexanderia found a new fan base up in Aroostook County many of who m now follow her on Facebook.

On Sunday North American Amusements brought their family rides to the Stoughton Night Before 4th Celebration. This traditional event attracts locals who its seems come together as a community for this one night a year bring their blankets & coolers to enjoy the rides, music and fireworks.

In addition to the event we had over the July 4th weekend we were busy with last minute arrangements for a daredevil stunt FIVE YEARS in the making. The Human Home Run at the Lowell Spinners. On July 5th the big event was finally to take place. The stadium was sold out and media surrounding the field as if it was the bottom of the 9th in the World Series! David Smith Sr. was shot 165' over the center right field wall to the delight of the baseball fans. Immediately the Boston Red Sox TV coverage picked up the happening on their broadcast and by the 11pm news all the Boston media was buzzing. By the early hours of the morning ESPN Sports Center did a feature on their broadcast and the next day the Human Home Run was

one of the lead stories on Yahoo News! The coverage was picked up nationwide and David Smith's daughter even saw media coverage in Europe!

On the weekend of the 8th, 9th & 10th we brought the Hu

man Cannonball David Smith to the Whaling City Festival in New Bedford to do a victory lap of cannonball performances so to speak. New Bedford is the largest fishing port in the country and we were blessed to meet the crew of the tug the "McAllister Sisters" who came out to see the show and invited us back for a tour of their vessel in New Bedford Harbor. It was awesome to see a real working tug boat and our 8-year old had an amazing time with the Captain taking the ship out for a spin in the Harbor. Thanks to the crew for the tour and for all you do!

The 10th also saw the closing of the Anastasini Circus at Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta. They had a run there that lasted over a month and enjoyed every minute of working with this family friendly theme park. It was a pleasure working with the staff

once again!

On July 14th the McIntyre Family Circus opened a 10 day stand at the Nanuet Mall with Dreamland Amusements performing aerials, unicycle and high wire!

Saturday the 16th was the opening of the Barnstable County Fair on Cape Cod which is open for a full week plus a day from Saturday to Saturday. This year we had the "Enchanted Wa

gon" for the run of the fair. The "Enchanted Wagon" is a kid magnet and I can easily say there is no other strolling entertainment

quite like it, it is completely original and unique. The wagon is operated by a puppeteer and guided by an enchanted faerie. The wagon is like something out of a childhood adventure book with a sea turtle carrying a magical house on his back. It is driven by an owl and their are windows that the children can open to see magical creatures like a sea dragon come to life. It is hands on for the kids which is so rare these days of do not touch. The wagon also blows bubbles and sprinkles magic faerie dust as it goes along its merry way. If your at an event with the "Enchanted Wagon" and you want to see it for your self just look for the crowd of happy laughing children and their you will find it right in the middle.

Wednesday to Saturday Lucky Bob made his appearance at the fair for the 3rd year in a row. The Lucky Bob Show is filled with comedy, magic, juggling and a little rola bola for good measure. I have noticed once a fair books Lucky Bob they repeat him year after year, which is easy to do with such a talented performer who keeps his show funny, fresh, exciting and family friendly.

On Friday the 22nd the South County Balloon Festival opened on the grounds of the University of Rhode Island. The entertainment line up this year featured the Flying Pages with flying trapeze, juggling and aerials. They also had the all new "Flying Pig Races" from the producer of the Hot Dog Pig Races. The Flying Pig Races is also a traditional pig racing show with a final heat of "Flying Pigs" that is pigs who run up a ramp, jump into the fair, splash down into a pool, swimming across to the other side, up a ramp and back out onto the track, refreshed and ready for the final homestretch to the treats waiting to reward them for their efforts. It was the buzz of the festival this year!

July Saturday the 23 rd we took a day out to support a worthy non-profit organization benefiting retired thoroughbred

racehorses, Old Friends Equine Retirement. We spent a day at the beautiful Saratoga Race Track enjoying the races and witnessing

the Coaching Club of America Oaks featuring the five best 3 year old fillies in the country including Joyous Victory, Plum Pretty and Its Tricky. Its Tricky and Plum Pretty put on one heck of a show in the stretch and Its Tricky came out on top. The race was televised by NBC and was seen by over 1.2 million viewers. After the races we headed over to the Washington Inn to the cocktail party hosted by Michael Blowen and his wife Diane White benefiting their local Cabin Creek division. Also in attendance were Hall of Fame Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. and New York legend and former jockey of Funnycide Richard Migliore. There were lots of silent auction items of racing memorabilia and a great time was had by all.

The last weekend of July came all too quickly!

On the 29th we had two events open: the Quick Chek NJ Festival of Ballooning and the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle, Maine. At the Quick Chek NJ Festival of Ballooning we

had the "Cannon Lady" Jennifer Smith doing her amazing Human Cannonball. Everyone within 100 miles knew the Cannon Lady was going to be their there were no less than 10 feature articles written on her by the local media. While she was traveling to the event she stopped at Devil's Tower in Wyoming and someone stopped her and said "I know who you are, your the Cannon Lady, I'm from Readington, NJ and you are all over the news!".

Lucky Bob began his first ever run at the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle, and if you live up that way or are visiting the area you can catch him at the fair until August 6th.

So what have we learned this month everyone? To entertain your audience and keep 'em on the grounds, pig racing is what you need. Needs something this kids will love and help create memories they will cherish, you must have the "Enchanted Wagon". And if you want the media to cover your event and bring you media attention that has the power to reach millions . . . none other than a human cannonball!

July 2009 Recap

July started out with a bang as it usually does with all the fantastic July 4th events! Best yet the July 4th weekend was the first weekend of the summer season that was without rain! Subfest at the Groton Naval Submarine base was well attended and as always the animal acts were a huge hit. This year the Rosaire's Bears were the hit of the event and crowds were pleased to see that the Bwana Jim Wildlife Show returned for the third year in a row. Bwana Jim and his wife Linda always do a great job making sure they have something new each year for the many events that have them as an annual part of their event. This year they added birds of prey to their show with an owl, a Red Tail Hawk and a Turkey Vulture. I have to admit I have never been a fan of vultures but this one totally changed my opinion of vultures, he sat so calmly and preened his feathers just as nicely as my own pet parrot. Also new to Subfest this year was the Anastasini Family Circus with their fabulous aerial rocket fantasy act as well as Magically Medieval who as been one of my most popular acts this year.

We had a brand new Fourth of July event this year in Stoughton which we were able to bring in rides from North American Amusements on July 3rd for the fireworks portion of the event which was generously sponsored by IKEA. On Saturday the Fourth the event had a Children's Day event in which we brought in Johnny Peers and the Muttville Comix as well as Chuckles the Kids Comic. Johnny went over extremely well and was invited back to perform again in 2010. Chuckles had huge lines for his balloon twisting, he also road his Velociped as Uncle Sam, face painted and did some magic tricks, he is truly a one man festival just by himself.

The Whaling City Festival in New Bedford was the second weekend in July were we had dozens of bands on two stages over the weekend. The festival was surprised by two of the best drawing bands were styles of music that they had never before featured, True Witness a Christian Rock family act as well as Buck T. Edwards which was Country. All the artists were very talented and probably the best line up the festival has had. Also appearing at the Whaling City Festival was Magically Medieval which continued to draw a nice family audience. The biggest struggle for the Whaling City Festival this year was the economy, the festival has no admission charge and depends on sponsors to pay for a large portion of the event. The event typically draws between 130,000 to 175,000 people which is just want sponsors are looking for, however sponsorship has really dried up for most events this year. Such a shame for a great event whose goal is to raise money for scholarships for students in New Bedford which is an inner city area.

My brother Jeffrey decided to get married in the height of our busy season (July 12th) which caused us to miss the final day of the Whaling City Festival as well as the Great South Bay Music Festival on Long Island in New York. We booked Eddie Money to play July 12th at the festival, we hated to miss the event but Gordon, myself and our son Justin were all in the wedding party so it couldn't be helped. Gordon also attended Kieran Ridge's wedding prior to Jeffrey's. The Great South Bay Music Festival is in Patchogue, New York and this year was their third year. We heard Eddie was well received and drew great crowds (as always).

July 17th saw two more events open, Barnstable County Fair who booked in Lucky Bob for the run of the fair as well as Eddie Money on July18th. The South County Balloon Festival sponsored by the Wakefield Rotary Club was also this third weekend of July, returning to this hot air balloon event was the Flying Wallenda's and new to the event was Magically Medieval! Magically Medieval's popularity is probably due to the fact that it is brand new, priced right and includes its own stage, sound and lights, big pluses for any type of event. Believe it or not they have never played a Renaissance Faire although it is certainly appropriate for one. Magically Medieval just seems to go over well at any event.

July 24 to the 26th was the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning where we had the Flying Wallenda's perform their famous high wire routine. Aerial acts really seam to go over really well at balloon festivals, they really fit the "up in the air" theme.

Close Encounters of the Exotic Kind (Tigers and Lions) opened up this week for a return engagement at the Bushkill Volunteer Fire Department's Carnival fundraiser. Vince and Pom Pom are really wonderful at what they do, their show is part education and part entertainment and always well received. Big cat acts are a major part of our business, Close Encounters is typically booked solid a testament to the wonderful job they do!

And finally, last but not least the Northern Maine Fair opened today with the Rosaire Zoppe Chimps as the headline animal act of the fair. Best of luck on your opening day up in Presque Isle!

Wow, what a month!