MONHEGAN — A small island with a history of putting on circuses is seeking to renew that old-fashioned tradition.
In 1912, Monhegan welcomed the big top—or was it two? From the announcement of that long-ago event: “Two Big Shows In One: See Red Pete jump from a soap box 4 feet high and dash his brains out on the sands beneath. The sacred elk. Bosco eats ’em live. The dainty diving girls. Joe-Joe the dog face boy.”
The 1912 event must have been a success. In 1913, the entire community participated in the tongue-in-cheek Adam Five Paws Circus—a play on the Adam Forepaugh Circus of the era, including such wondrous acts as “Mlle Dolly Deleria’s Death-Defying Dive over Six Camels,” “the world’s greatest performers on the trapeze,” lady bareback riders, “Professor Delicatesso’s Performing Lions,” and “Many Other Constellations 7 Galaxies of Stars * Not Forgetting An Army of Humorous But Refined Clowns!!!!”
In 1938, the community mounted the Ting-a-Ling Brothers and Sisters Circus. Described by Clara Burton in her book “Monhegan Memories,” it brought out a parade and marching band, “proud little princesses,” a king and queen and a generally gala occasion.
The community now seeks to reprise the old tradition by bringing over the Boston Circus Guild for the 2013 Monhegan Circus on Aug. 16-17. Two days of festivity will feature a big-top show to include aerials, ground acts, acrobatics, a live circus band and choreographed juggling; a parade of costumed residents, the circus band, stilt dancers, jugglers, hula hoopers and acrobats; and workshops in all of the above. The show would be put on in concert with local artisans and performers, with plenty of audience participation.
To raise the $25,000 needed to host the Boston Circus Guild, the community began a kickstarter campaign, which will wrap up on July 1.
With less than a week left on the kickstarter campaign (see web address below), organizers said they are seeking corporate sponsors to make up the balance needed and, of course, they still welcome individual donations.
“It’s a pretty hefty undertaking,” said guild member and Monhegan summer resident Laura Ligouri. “It’s one thing to have a traveling circus. It’s quite another to have a traveling circus move everything to an island. The Boston Circus Guild has traveled in the past, so everything’s portable, but it’s a lot of equipment, a lot of people and support staff. It all needs to go on ferries. It looks like it will take two or three trips each way. Then we have to bring everything to the ballfield and we have to build a stage from scratch.”
The idea began a few years ago when Ligouri was viewing Monhegan Museum exhibits of posters and photos from the early circuses.
“I had associated Monhegan with the visual arts, but I hadn’t heard of the circuses,” she recalled. “Being part of the Boston Circus Guild, that struck a chord. A couple of years ago, we started talking with some people who go to the island every summer—’Oh, wouldn’t that be fun!’ Eventually we said, ‘Maybe we should really do this!'”
The idea was cheerfully abetted by museum curator Jenn Pye.
“She came into my office and we started talking about how wonderful it would be to re-create one of those old-fashioned circuses,” Pye recalled.
It seemed appropriate to pull it together for this summer, as the 100th anniversary of the 1913 circus, Monhegan’s first real circus which featured as ringmaster well-known painter George Bellows who summered on the island.
The intention is to reprise the vintage feel as much as possible, said Ligouri. For example, costumes will have the ruffles and stripes of the earlier era; handlebar mustaches are encouraged.
To help Monhegan restart an old tradition that will “amaze and delight,” as the circus posters say, donate to kickstarter.com/projects/monhegancircus. Travel to the circus will be easy, since ferries run frequently from the mainland. The event will be folded into Monhegan’s three-year slate of festivities to celebrate the island’s quadricentennial in 2014—400 years after Captain John Smith arrived on the island in 1614.