August began on a sad note with Dondi the elephant's memorial service at the Southwick Zoo on Sunday evening August 1st. Dondi passed away after a brief illness in late July. She had a very well attended service with about 100 people in attendance, including her family Joshua, Ashley, Phil, and Francine. Much of the staff of Southwick's zoo was there, many performers who knew and loved Dondi, staff from the Enchanted Forest Amusement Park in New York where she once worked as well as fair committee members from the Guilford Fair in Connecticut. Even more surprising were the everyday people who Dondi had given rides to or performed for, one lady came out from Connecticut, Dondi had given her husband a ride while he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Dondi was truly an extraordinary animal who touched many, many lives and without the ability to travel and perform this would not have been possible.
On Wednesday the 4th we traveled up to the Crown of Maine as it is known to the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle. This is a beautiful ride right to the northern end of I-95 followed by 50 miles on Route 1 through countless potato farms. We had a chance to visit with the fair President Andy LeBlanc and also Vicenta Pages with her White Bengal Tigers that we had booked at the fair this year. We even saw motor daredevil Crash Moreau visiting the fair. Crash is a thrilling performer but also visits many, many fairs and circuses during the season and documents the layouts of each and every one. We were hoping for an appearance by the Aurora Borealis that evening since there had been a recent solar flare but the skies did not co-operate with a cloud cover much of the evening.
On Thursday the Rehoboth Fair opened on the south coast of Massachusetts. We had the Magic of Lance Gifford and Company and his amazing staging. Also at the fair was Lance's Grannie's Racing Pigs as well as Lucky Bob. This fair is everything you think of when you think country fair, a carnival midway, motor events, 4H animals and entertainment. The fair reopened about 5 years ago after a long layoff and a change of fairgrounds and fair committee. Every year the attendance has increased and it is very well received by the people in Rehoboth and the surrounding communities. The fairgrounds itself is a nice mix of open spaces and shady trees. They have grown so much and improved each and every year I cannot wait to see what the next 5 years brings.
On Monday the 9th we were called in by the Anastasini's to help bring acts to a secret location in central Maine for an all star circus rivaling some of the finest shows traveling the world. The acts for the show included the CannonLady, Sacha Pavlata(Cloud Swing), Chiara, Anastasini (Hand Balancing), Ringmaster Joe Barney, Jumbo the Clown, "The Human Inferno" - Nicholas Penny (Fire Eater & Sword Swallower) and Vicenta Pages with her White Tigers, Larry Records (Camels) and a boatload of Clowns! The show was presented at 6 am!!!!We spend a lot of time in August preparing for Labor Day Weekend's Spencer Fai
r, making all the final advertising and promotional arrangements with the media. Spencer is an event that the media looks forward to each year as it is the largest event in Worcester County and a long time family favorite.
r, making all the final advertising and promotional arrangements with the media. Spencer is an event that the media looks forward to each year as it is the largest event in Worcester County and a long time family favorite. The end of August we had the Flying Wallenda's making a return engagement for the Union Fair and their talent buyer Diana Ammon of Atlantic Music Productions. The fair is well known for also being the Maine Blueberry Festival.
This Great photo of the Flying Wallendas is courtesy of Legendary Daredevil & Movie Star Crash Moreau.
On Thursday the 26th we traveled up to Lyndonville, Vermont for the Caledonia County Fair, we had a visit with midway operator Bob DeStefano of Dreamland Amusements. We also had an opportunity to visit with the Flying Pages and Vicenta Pages and her White Tigers.
On Friday we headed over for the set up day at Champlain Valley Exposition where both the Nerger's Tigers and the Anastasini Circus under the big top were making return performances.
Saturday was opening day of the Champlain Valley Exposition and is was a very busy opening day. We had a chance to catch a couple performances each of both Nerger's and the Anastasini's. This year's Anastasini Circus included Heidi Herriott ring-mistress and big & little horses, Luciano's Pound Puppies, the Globe of Death, Rola Bola, Rocky the boxing kangaroo, Nicholas Souren juggling & contortion. It was nice to see the crowds at the fair were filling the tent right from the very first performance.
Most of the month of August was extremely hot here in the Northeast, with many, many days reaching well into the 90's normally we have just a handful of 90 degree days in a summer this year it was not unusual to have a handful of 90 degree days in a week!
We are looking forward to having a very busy September!
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