Circus Capital
from Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast Hosted by #circusminimus, #kevino'keefe, #neccavt, #newenglandcentercircusarts, #circussmirkus, #alecpombriant, #lissaweinmann, #rolfparker, #iBrattleboro, #chrisgrotke
This episode of the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast was researched, written by Kevin O'Keefe and Christopher Grotke with research help from Rolf Parker. It is narrated by Kevin O'Keefe. Editing was by Alec Pombriant. Executive Producer and sound design was Lissa Weinmann. Merry-go-round music "Over the Waves Calliope" and "Texas Sunflower' are both by Martha Van Dorn, Boris Yakovleff and Eric Ramberg, from Smithsonian Folkways Records 1955 album 'Sounds of Carnival’. ‘‘Whispering’ from the 2010 Classic Carnival Circus Calyope, Volume 2 from the Carlisle Music Company was used at the end of the segment. Other circus sounds came from Tom Glazer’s 1948 recordings from Smithsonian Folkways ‘The Circus Comes to Town.’ Many thanks to the New England Center for Circus Arts first annual Vermont Circus Festival taking place in and around Brattleboro November 2 through 9, 2025. Thanks for listening, and we will see you next month on...the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast. For more information on Jumbo and circus in Brattleboro, see IBrattleboro story by Christopher Grotke: https://www.ibrattleboro.com/culture/history/2014/06/pt-barnum-in-brattleboro-and-jumbo-in-the-whetstone/ For more information on NECCA and the Vermont Circus Festival: https://necenterforcircusarts.org/about/vermont-circus-festival/ Our theme music is by Ty Gibbons.Intro voice is Donna Blackney. Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Vermont Arts Council and the hundreds of volunteers and community members who support this work.
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What this episode covers
Brattleboro ‘circus man’ Kevin O’Keefe takes us on a journey through time and space, sprinkling kooky and colorful newspaper accounts of the various circuses that passed through town with his own erudite observations on how the tradition lives on through institutions like the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) launching the first annual Vermont Circus Festival November 2 to 9 in Brattleboro. In his unique and entertaining manner, Kevin makes the case that Brattleboro, Vermont is the circus capital of America. Kevin describes how the train would roll into town in the 1800s, listing a difficult to imagine number of rail cars filled with animals and equipment. He starts at the old Island Park, an amusement pavilion on an island in the middle of the Connecticut River over the old Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge adjacent to the rail station where circuses would perform to thousands. He discusses PT Barnum’s visit to another circus location, Frost Fields, site of today’s Cersosimo Lumber yard, and how Jumbo the Elephant bathed in the Whetstone Brook. He paints an engaging portrait of ‘Tom Thumb’ – the 28-inch tall performer – and other circus acts of the time. He also adds amusing details some of the petty crimes that occurred during the circus performances. He ends at the Brattleboro Fairgrounds, site of today's Brattleboro Union High School, where giant circus spectacles last took place. On more serious note, he reflects on why Vermont has been home to so many circus performers and details several circuses that persist to this day here, including the legendary Rob Mermin's Circus Smirkus, his own Circus Minimus, and Troy Wunderle and his Wunderle’s Big Top Adventures. He also highlights twin aerialists Elsie and Serenity Smith Forchion’s New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA), America’s largest professional circus school, and plugs NECCA’s first annual Vermont Circus Week from November 2 to 9, 2025 in – you guessed it - Brattleboro, Vermont.
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