Tag Archives: Ohio

Three Days of Peace and Music

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Although it was not an actual goal, I was entertained by live music each of the last three days. It was just like Woodstock except that I only saw one performer each day and didn’t have to sleep in the mud. The picture at right exemplifies the peacefulness that prevailed. It was taken at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden where my musical adventure began.

I’m not sure when the zoo held the first Tunes & Blooms event. The earliest online reference I found was from 2018. The current setup has the music starting at 6:00 with free admission starting at 5:00. There is not much animal activity at that time but there is some and a few buildings remain open. One of those is Manatee Springs which has three residents at present. In the photo, one of the three is seen chasing some of the nearly 300 pounds of lettuce the trio consumes each day.

I have thought of attending Tunes & Blooms in the past but Thursday was the first time I actually made it. The artist of the day was the Carriers. They delivered very good original rock material that I quite enjoyed.

I stopped by Fibonacci Brewing last month to see Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass but bad weather caused the show to be canceled. I got much closer on Friday. Appalachian Grass performed but without Vernon. He wasn’t feeling well but sent a very capable guitarist in his place. The group is scheduled to be at the brewery monthly and I will be back.

Between 1956 and 1968, Covington, Ohio, was home to Rogers Drum Company. I even picked up a kit there in 1964. For the last few years, fans of the drums have been gathering in Covington to buy, sell, and reminisce as they did on Saturday. Potential buyers would sometimes take kits for a “test drive” and multiple simultaneous drum solos in a high school gymnasium sound exactly like what you’re thinking. The second picture is of Anthony Amodeo’s presentation on some Rogers history. The third picture is of a display in the local museum.

Drum solos were not the only music I heard on Saturday. I ended the day at Devil Wind Brewing where I knew Nasty Bingo would be performing. I had heard of the group but had never actually heard them. They did not disappoint and made a great finale for my three (generally) peaceful days of music.

2023 Ohio Road Meet Columbus

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I attended my sixth road meet yesterday which provided a good topic for this week’s post while simultaneously removing any possibility of completing a post about it by 6:00 AM today. Rather than posting a canned article to meet the 6:00 schedule, I decided to defy the self-imposed deadline and post this report on the Columbus Road Meet at whatever time it was complete. Whether or not it is worth waiting for is not for me to say.

The group gathered at Tommy’s Diner for a pre-tour meal. Sandor Gulyas, the meet’s organizer, and I are pretty familiar with Tommy’s but it was something new for the other four attendees. Being there for lunch was also something new for me since I believe all of my previous visits had been for breakfast. I was prepared to order a sandwich when the menu reminded me of the “breakfast all day” policy. It was not quite noon when I tackled a 3-cheese omelet.

Our first stop was at the Dodge Skatepark from where we could see some of the ongoing construction of a new ramp to I-70/I-71. I’m always something of the odd man at these meets since they lean toward the new and my interest leans toward the old. Of course, it’s really a continuum and I always find something that interests me. However, it might explain why my pier picture includes kayakers and I have a skyline picture facing away from the construction entirely.

While stopped at the skatepark, we walked over to an art installation named The Slingshot for a group photo. I don’t yet have access to that photo (I’ll add it when I do.) but I do have this picture of Sandor about to be launched in the direction of downtown and the opening photo shows Sandor’s final pre-launch view. ADDENDUM 16-Apr-2023: The group photo has been added at the end of this post.

We then circled through downtown for a view of the construction from the south side of the Sciota River. I was quite impressed with the stationery supervisor watching over things from the hilltop with the tip of the LeVeque Tower peeking up behind him. There’s a closer look here.

The brick house is where author James Thurber grew up. It is now a museum and the area around it is called Thurber Village. A parking lot there was our base for a walk to the murals on the Long Street I-71 overpass.

This pair of bridges bracket a brick-paved section of Iuka Avenue running through Iuka Ravine. The Summit Avenue Bridge (least cars) was built in 1916 and restored in 2001. The Indianola Avenue Bridge was built in 1996 to replace one built in 1912. Kudos for retaining the original appearance of both bridges.

Here are outside and inside pictures of Glen Echo Bird Tunnel on Indianola Avenue. The inside shot should make the difference between art and graffiti quite clear to anyone. If I was younger and lived closer, I’d definitely be making plans for the next Bird Tunnel Party. I’ll probably give it some thought anyway. There are photos of some individual birds here, here, and here.

Remnants of the old pavement can be followed to a still-functioning Glen Echo Drive on the other side of Arcadia Avenue. I again gripped the handrail returning to Indianola despite having a different opinion of that bottom column than I had coming down.

Formally named Rustic Bridge, this structure was part of a short-lived zoo and amusement park more than a century ago. The zoo was pretty much a failure and closed in 1907 after just four years of existence. My joke about the bartender not being in till later was pretty much a failure too. From the vantage point of the bridge, I thought this looked exactly like four guys hanging out at a bar but I guess it didn’t make the same impression from ground level.

Following our return to Tommy’s, I headed west on US-40/National Road to the recently reopened Red Brick Tavern. After being closed for nearly four years, this historic tavern had a Grand (re)Opening on Valentine’s Day and less than two months later it appears to be off to a great start. I didn’t catch the musician’s name but I did enjoy his mix of music and I also enjoyed my salmon Ceasar salad. Welcome back!

Apparently, I did not publish a report on that first road meet in 2011 but here are the others:
2012 — Dayton, Ohio
2013 — Cincinnati, Ohio
2019 — Portsmouth, Ohio
2019 — Delaware County, Ohio

ADDENDUM 16-Apr-2023: Here is the Slingshot group photo plus one on Long Street that I had not mentioned. Thanks, Brandon.

Spring Fling 2023

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Birthday trips may have become a thing. I used my birthday as an excuse for running the COVID blockade in 2021 and last year it served as justification for a drive to an overnight that had long been on my list. The 2021 trip was a three-day affair that got the full journal treatment (Birthday Breakout).  The one-night 2022 trip was covered in a blog post (Celebrating). This year’s outing started as a two-night deal that has grown to three nights and will be covered in a regular journal. The first day, which consisted of a drive to a historic inn, has just been posted. Following days will include a railroad roundhouse and museum and a concert.

This entry lets blog-only subscribers know about the trip and provides a place for comments. The journal is here.

Spirit of 76

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For the second consecutive year, I’ve created a post specifically for my birthday. I didn’t expect to. I did it last year to note a milestone in age and a change in appearance. I’m doing it this year primarily to record some thoughts. I ended last year’s post with the observation that “birthdays are good occasions for remembering all the folks I’ve known who have been denied the privilege of growing older”. I intentionally used “older” rather than “old” without knowing the significance that the difference would hold this year. During the year since my last birthday, a very close friend of mine stopped growing older. John was born a few years before me so the privilege of growing old was something we shared. Sure, lots of people live to be much older but lots more don’t.

The day before John turned seventy-six, he commented about having that number of trombonists serenade him for his birthday. On the day. I shared a Youtube clip of The Music Man‘s signature song.

I recalled that as my own seventy-sixth birthday approached but thought of a couple of other things associated with the number 76. One was (Union) 76 gasoline and another was The Spirit of ’76 painting shown at left. Probably because I would like to think I have some spirit left at age 76, I felt more of a connection with the painting than with the gasoline, and I felt more of a connection with the painting’s title than with its appearance.

Archibald Willard, who painted The Spirit of ’76, was an Ohioan. Some of his more notable work is in the somewhat nearby Fayette County courthouse. Apparently, Willard also liked the word “spirit”. The three largest of his 1882 murals are The Spirit of the U. S. Mail, The Spirit of Electricity, and The Spirit of the Telegraph. While those were no doubt high-tech futuristic subjects in 1882, today all three would probably be combined in something like The Spirit of the Internet, and Willard would have to come up with a couple additional ideas to fill all three walls.

The image with the old phrase on an updated background at the top of this post should now make sense but in case it doesn’t, I’ll explain. A few days ahead of my 76th birthday, I sat on a bench in Washington Court House, Ohio, gazing at the Fayette County courthouse in which there are three “Spirit” murals painted by the man who created a painting in 1875 that he called Yankee Doodle but which was soon renamed The Spirit of ’76. Happy Birthday to me.

A more readable version of the sign in that last picture is here.

A Normal Opening Day

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Cincinnati Reds opening day parades were canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year’s parade was delayed along with the start of the season by an owner-player dispute but it did happen. Opening Day 2019 was normal in most respects but I missed the parade due to my own bad planning. I made the parade in 2018 although it was delayed by legitimate business concerns having nothing to do with owners, players, viruses, or weather. In 2017 I was out of town for what I understand was a very nice and quite normal parade. That means that the parade of 2016 was the last one I attended that happened as it was supposed to. I’m sure glad that streak is over.

I decided to get serious this year and reached Arnold’s about twenty minutes ahead of the planned 9:00 opening. Obviously, quite a few folks were even more serious but I was still in time to get a seat in the courtyard and get a breakfast sandwich and Shamrock Shake. I was there when Todd Hepburn arrived looking quite dapper and I stayed long enough to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with him.

The day would eventually get warm but walking to the parade’s start point at Findlay Market was fairly chilly. Near the market, I encountered all four of the Reds’ mascots exiting their limo and heading to the staging area. That’s Rosie Red on the left, Mr. Red on the right, Gapper in the middle, and Mr. Redlegs still in the limo.

My walk and some strolling through the staging area consumed a fair amount of time but the parade start was still several minutes away when I took up a position near the parked Cincinnati Police motorcycles that would lead the parade. Those minutes passed quickly and shortly past noon, the parade was set in motion.

With the passing of the pipes and drums, the organizers’ float, and the iconic Jim Tarbell dressed as the also iconic Peanut Jim, there’s no doubt that we’ve got a real parade going on.

The four mascots spread throughout the parade with Gapper getting the position of leading the parade’s two grand marshalls. Pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo are both being inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame this year and are sharing Grand Marshall duties. During the time I was waiting by the motorcycles, the pair had arrived nearby in a van. Danny never turned toward me at the time but I did get a decent shot of Bronson which I’m sharing here.

This group, looking like players and fans from the earliest days of baseball, represents the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Mr. Redlegs is close behind.

A few entries later, Rosie Red leads what could be called the parade’s glamour section. Kentucky’s Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000, is as lovely and enthusiastic as ever.

Indicative of Cincinnati and the Reds’ place in a tri-state area, the reigning beauty queens of Ohio (Elizabetta Nies), Kentucky (Hannah Edelen), and Indiana (Elizabeth Hallal) also accompanied Rosie. Maybe it’s a generational thing or maybe it’s because this was early in the parade route but I’d like to think that Heather French’s enthusiasm had something to do with all three title holders forgoing the standard “regal wave” and actually interacting with the crowd.

The Wilburforce University Marching Band got some pre-parade press so I was sort of on the lookout for them when I saw them heading to the staging area and snapped a less-than-great picture. This is the first marching band WU has ever had and it attracted enough attention during its first year of existence to be invited to march in multiple Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. It’s a really good band and that’s a wonderful accomplishment.

Mr. Red, the fourth and final Reds mascot, was riding with the Friends of Findlay Market. I have no identification for the other two photos except I do know that one is the parade’s most athletic and the other the parade’s cutest.

I have two reasons for including the Lebanon High School Marching Band in this post. One is the eye-catching cool uniforms and the other is that the band was playing “Fins” as they passed. I’m guessing that’s because it’s the only Jimmy Buffett song that calls out Cincinnati and covering Buffett is all the reason anyone needs for joining a band.

In addition to Ferraris and Gina Lollobrigida, Italy has given us Vespas, Reds fans, and Americans.

When I took this picture, the Reds were 0-0. In a few hours, they would be 0-1 but they are now 1-1 just like every other team in the NL Central Division. Mathematically they have the same shot as everyone else but retired Reds announcer Marty Brennaman proclaimed during the parade, “Anybody that thinks they are [going to win the division] are delusional.” Realistically, we could see a repeat of last year’s dismal 62-100 season. Of course, there’s nothing like a parade on a sunny day to make you forget the worst of the past and remember the best, and a smiling George Foster — Big Red Machine outfielder and 1977 NL MVP — is a great reminder of some of that best.

The King Records float was another reminder of the best of Cincinnati history. I got so caught up in watching Tony Wilson that I almost missed Bootsy Collins. Wilson, given the name Young James Brown by the real James Brown, was singing and dancing in the street while Bootsy was keeping a pretty low profile — for someone wearing a sparkling blue top hat — on the float.

I know I’ve seen members of the Cincinnati Circus Company in other parades but I don’t recall seeing a group behind a banner before. Of course, that probably has more to do with my recall than reality.

Following the parade, I overheard several comments from people who were really impressed by the Indianapolis motorcycle officer riding his ‘cycle while standing up. I witnessed that bit of derring-do but got no photos. The last parade picture is of one of my all-time favorites, the Lawnmower Precision Drill Team from Wapakoneta.

I apologize for what might be a personal record for the number of photos in a blog post but I assure you it could have been worse. Maybe it was ending the seven-year streak of missed or somehow off-kilter parades that caused me to take so many pictures. Limiting this post to what I hope is only slightly too many was not an easy task.

When the last of the parade passed me, I was near Washington Park and headed immediately to Cobblestone OTR across the street. I believe I could have bought a beer almost instantly but decided I ought to dispose of the one I had for breakfast first. The line at the restroom extended through much of the bar and that convinced me to just move on. The crowd at Knockback Nat’s was out the door and, although I could step inside Madonna’s, that place was definitely full also. I found the same thing at Arnold’s but my car was nearby and I brought the day’s hike to an end right there. I finally got that beer at City View Tavern where barely a half dozen customers preceded me and I was able to grab a seat at deck’s edge. That situation did not last long and the couple at the table behind me instantly moved forward when I left.  

Short, Sweet, Wet, and Irish

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It took place on March 17 so obviously it’s Irish. It’s wet because of the heavy rain that fell before it started and the light rain that fell later. It’s sweet because that’s what most short things are said to be and it’s short because that’s what Hamiltonians wanted. The title quite accurately describes the first-ever Hamilton Ohio Saint Patrick’s Day Parade which those Hamiltonians labeled Ohio’s Shortest. I think the parade route was about 575 feet long but the margin of error isn’t much less than the distance separating the piper leading the parade and the fire engine at its tail. I’ve since learned that the piper is Thomas Eickelberger and that the fellows next in line are Jim Goodman, from Municipal Brew Works, and Michael Ryan, Hamilton’s Vice Mayor. Hamilton’s Mayor, Pat Moeller didn’t actually march in the parade but I did get a shot of him chatting with Eickelberger during the staging.

Municipal Brew Works was listed as the parade’s starting point with the route ending around the corner and up a block at Tano Bistro. I got a full frontal of that bicycle leaning against the brewery before the big kickoff.

Here is the parade after turning the corner. The official end point is behind me but not everyone made it that far. Many departed the route when they reached The Casual Pint or The Pour House. Tano and Chick’nCone got a few of the marchers and would get more later but most initially headed to the adult beverage dispensaries including MBW back at the start point.

The city of Hamilton is no stranger to celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day or to promoting shortness. The parade was followed by the second annual O’DORA Dash. DORA stands for Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area where adults can carry alcoholic beverages and, as everyone knows, adding an ‘O’ will make anything Irish. Despite the word “dash” in its name, speed in covering the 0.1K course doesn’t seem particularly important. In fact, I saw no evidence of any time or speed-measuring devices anywhere near the event.

Much of the chatter about the event concerns not spilling your beer and I saw several participants meet that requirement by chugging their beverage at the beginning. But the official goal was to get as much liquid (either green beer or local Pahhni Water) as possible to the other end. True competitors were not deterred in the least by winds taking down the finish line marker. The Hamilton Community Foundation will benefit from the fundraiser regardless of who won or how much rainwater was in their cup.

I was already planning on attending the parade when I found out that someone I know would be playing at North Second Tap and Bottle Shop. When I got there, the new-to-me Bedel and Hibbard were on stage. Elijah Bedel and Sam Hibbard perform mostly American folk music on a variety of instruments. That’s a gourd banjo on the right side of the first picture and the banjo and fiddle on the picture’s left side are part of the mix too. Today’s song list was naturally slanted toward Ireland. Not only were they doing an afternoon set, but they would also be returning later to close out the night.

Although I’ve seen Rob McAllister do sets that would qualify as American folk music, that would not be happening today. Today it would be Dead Man String Band at full throttle. Usually checking out a guitarist’s pedal board will reveal an array of effects boxes with buttons. The Dead Man’s has real pedals and he uses them all. And somehow, replacing the tom rack on a bass drum with a microphone just seems to fit.

With the exception of the cold, I enjoyed everything about my day in Hamilton. I especially appreciated the sheer fun of the parade which kind of reminded me of the Cincinnati parade before all the sanctimonious family values posturing took over. The O’DORA Dash was fun to watch and I enjoyed a few malt beverages although none were green. And I appreciated hearing music in a place where others appreciated it too. Can there be any doubt that a place is cool when there is a wizard on the soundboard and a leprechaun on the bar?

Support Your Local Cryptid

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I can’t really claim to be a big supporter of cryptids of any sort but I can claim to support my local cryptids more than any of the others. I have taken a few pictures of Bigfoot signs and statues but I’ve never gone out of my way to do it, and I’ve never for a moment thought of going to Scotland solely to look for that critter reported to live in Loch Ness. I have, however, visited Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a couple of times primarily to admire the Mothman statue, and when I heard about the first-ever Frogman Festival, I figured attending it would just be proper. You can’t get much more local than a cryptid sighting a mile and a half from where I once lived and less than three miles from where I live now.

Some background, I suspect, might be in order. I’ll start with a definition. I now know what a cryptid is but I didn’t a few years ago and the word is not one I use daily. From Wikipedia: “Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not recognized by science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by the scientific community.” Mothman, which has been sighted about 120 miles from my home, is a cryptid and I believe the pictured inflatable is a representation. Here is a picture of a more solid, but not necessarily more accurate, rendition that’s in his hometown.

The Loveland Frog or Frogman is a cryptid that some cryptozoologists believe lives, or at least lived, in or near the Little Miami River around Loveland, Ohio. There are numerous descriptions floating around and even some reports of more recent sightings but essentially all descriptions mention sightings in 1955 and 1972. The creature is sometimes described as having webbed hands and sometimes as having human-like hands. Sometimes it’s very frog-like and sometimes it is basically a human with the face of a frog. Sometimes it’s about three feet tall but sometimes it’s closer to six feet. There are many other variations too. Legends and cryptids are often like that.

Vendors were a major part of the festival. It was announced at the start of the presentations that there were fifty-two vendors present representing twelve states. They filled the majority of the space offering clothing, books, games, a variety of craft items, and some really serious masks. Some very impressive works of art could also be found.

Here is an aspect of the festival that was a complete surprise to me. A company named MetaZoo was identified as the festival’s official sponsor. The name meant nothing to me but I soon learned that it is a gaming company and that a big tournament was part of the festival. I said that vendors had the majority of space but that’s because vendors were set up in the hallways. Space inside the main room was about evenly split between vendors and gamers. I don’t know much about the game itself but it looks like wizard hats, swimming goggles, and other paraphernalia could be important. I did learn from one of the people supervising the tournament that the play was one-on-one with winners advancing. The final rounds will be held at the tables with overhead cameras sending the action to the large screens. At the moment, all tables were being used so that random preliminary games were taking place at those tables.

I took in some but not all of the festival’s eight hours of presentations. The first picture is of one of the event’s organizers, Jeff Craig, introducing the first speaker. Dee Elliott talked about the effect of “hauntings” on three small West Virginia towns. Ashley Hilt’s presentation was entitled “Mothman” but it ended up touching on other sightings as well. I realize it looks like Mickey Mouse ears on the pair of audience members but they are actually frog eyes. Quite a few attendees were wearing frog eyes or something similar.

James Willis’ “Frogman of Loveland, Ohio” presentation was the main thing I wanted to see and I was certainly not alone. This was a standing-room-only presentation that was worth the price of addition. Willis dug into original police and newspaper reports to construct a rather thorough history of the legend. It’s the first time I’ve heard a version of this saga that makes sense.

The City of Loveland seems to have embraced its local cryptid. The picture at left was taken during the recent Hearts Afire weekend which I reported on here. That’s the city mascot greeting a young visitor on the bike trail.

I suppose it’s too early to know if this will become an annual event or was a one-time thing. It was clearly well-attended which I assume means it was a success. I had fun and learned more than I expected and will be on the lookout for a big festival or a big frog.

 

Two Tours in Champaign County

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After talking about it for quite some time, my friend Terry and I finally headed off to Ohio Caverns on Wednesday. Since touring the caverns would only take an hour or so, we decided a stop at the Champaign Aviation Museum in nearby Urbana would help make the trip worthwhile. As we looked over items displayed in the lobby, Pat appeared and offered us a guided tour. In addition to filling us in on each of the airplanes on display, Pat explained the extensive restoration work that goes on here and took us into areas where that work was taking place. Later arrivals joined us, and at one point there were six visitors in our little group. What we thought would be a brief interlude turned out to be a two-plus hour stop that was both entertaining and educational.

I had visited the museum in 2012 during the Doolittle Raid’s 70th anniversary celebration at the Air Force museum in Dayton. In the blog entry associated with that report, I mentioned that I had taken some pictures here but did not use them because I was more focused on the events in Dayton. At that time, the C-47 pictured at left was a rather new acquisition. Here‘s a picture of it that was taken then.

Champaign Gal is the museum’s fully restored B-25. I saw her fly in 2012 along with about twenty others. The Stinson 10A is one of several such planes used to scout for submarines during WWII. Although there is no absolute proof, there is strong evidence that this plane was responsible for sinking a German submarine using the small single bomb that the scout planes carried. The third plane is a Viet Nam era Grumman C-1A from the carrier Lexington.

A phenomenal amount of restoration takes place here with the biggest current project being this B-17 named Champaign Lady. The engine nacelles have been completed and are literally waiting on the shelf for future mounting. The ball turret is also ready for installation. It was one of the items we looked over in the lobby. This is a massive project that was begun in 2005. Here is a picture from my 2012 visit.

Restoring an airplane like the B-17 involves salvaging parts from other airplanes, fabricating many other parts, and lots of volunteers working lots of hours. Pat told us that more than 80% of Champaign Lady will have been fabricated here when she is complete.

It didn’t take long to get to the caverns from the museum. They are open year-round but this is not their busiest season. When tour time came around, we were the only paying customers so we basically had a personal guide.

Discovered in 1897, Ohio Caverns is the largest cave system in Ohio and bills itself as “America’s Most Colorful Caverns”. Color does start showing up early in the tour.

During the summer, a choice of two tours, Historic and Natural Wonder, are offered. The Winter Tour includes highlights of both. We passed many interesting rock and mineral formations before entering this narrow passage but they became more abundant once we were through it.

This is the Crystal King, the largest stalactite in Ohio. Our first view of was through a passage blocked by chains then the winding passage we were following passed quite a bit closer to it.

I admit that I was not very attentive and don’t remember the names of any of the “rooms” we passed through or the formations they contained. Names might help with History but they really aren’t required to appreciate Natural Wonder.

The website says there are 38 steps going in and 60 coming out. The path between them is close to level and the distance below the surface is affected mostly by variations in the height of the hill above the cave. The guide had to tell us when we reached the maximum 103 feet below ground because there’s really nothing distinctive about it. Going down those entrance steps barely registered. Going up those exit steps, however, definitely did. Guys our age just seem to naturally notice things like that.

Horses on Parade

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In the very first year of this blog, I attended a triple header of holiday horse parades and documented them in two posts. I wrote about a nighttime parade in Greenville here and nighttime parades in Springfield and Lebanon here. There was a fourth parade that I mentioned but did not get to see in 2011. The parade in Springfield was their first and I don’t believe it lasted much beyond that inaugural year. Greenville’s 10th annual Hometown Holiday Horse Parade took place a couple of weeks ago. The nighttime 33rd annual Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade took place last night and the daytime version, which is the parade I missed in 2011, took place yesterday afternoon. This time I made it.

Lebanon’s nighttime parade typically has well over 100 entries. The daytime parade is a bit smaller. The highest numbered unit I saw was 80 and there were a few gaps in the numbering. The pictures at left are of carriages carrying the parade’s Grand Marshal and the couple seen waving in the opening photo. The Grand Marshal was not identified on the carriage, I’ve found nothing online, and I didn’t recognize him. Maybe you can.

Some elegant horses followed including a pair sporting glittery blue hooves.

The number of small ponies in the parade kind of surprised me. I felt a little sorry for some of the tiny creatures pulling Santa Claus-sized individuals. I also felt a little sorry for some passengers who, although they looked quite cute, didn’t seem overly happy with the hats they were made to wear. The pony may deserve some pity, too.

Even though I know that the Grinch’s heart “grew three sizes that day”, I am still a little surprised every time I see him as a symbol; of Christmas. Given the parade’s name, I was also surprised to see one of those new-fangled carriageless horses.

There was certainly no lack of power near the parade’s end where a couple of six-horse teams appeared. Secure in the safety of both size and number, a member of one of those teams had no qualms about openly laughing at me as my cold hands tried to focus the camera on his face.  

Sideshow Signage

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Those who read through the comments on my The Signmaker’s Circus post already know that old circus banners were an important part of that American Sign Museum event earlier this year. Others will have just learned that. Some thirty hand-painted banners from the 1940s and ’50s hung from the walls of the area set up for the celebration and added considerably to the event’s authentic circus feel. An event devoted entirely to those banners took place at the museum on a recent Tuesday.

I arrived at the November 1 event a few minutes early and, knowing where the banners were hanging, headed directly there. Along with a few others, I happily snapped photos of the eye-catching wall hangings until I heard applause coming from elsewhere in the museum. I can only assume that the applause was triggered by the introduction of museum founder Tod Swormstedt because when I reached the real event Tod was telling the story of the banners and The Signmaker’s Circus. The banners were hanging in an empty warehouse that also belonged to their owner. They weren’t really on display but had been hung “just because”. Tod saw them, immediately envisioned them at his museum’s upcoming anniversary party, and asked. Told that, yes, he could borrow them, Tod drove to the Boston area with a helper, rolled up the banners on an upper floor of the warehouse, carried them down a fire escape, and hauled them to Cincinnati. He had been fielding questions about them ever since but not tonight. Tonight he introduced the banners’ owner, David Waller.

David began by telling us that there was almost always some deception in the banners. He made his point with a photo of a woman who was certainly quite small but not nearly as small as depicted on the canvas that identified her as the “world’s smallest mother“. He then claimed that similar deception had occurred tonight. Most of us had been drawn to the event, he said, expecting to hear an expert on circus banners. Instead, we would hear from a mere collector of such banners. Maybe that was an attempt at real deception but few were fooled as David proceeded to prove himself an expert on the banners as well as their creators and subjects.

I guess the title of tonight’s event was a little deceptive but I’ve no doubt it was unintentional. Although promoted as “Under the Big Top: Circus Banners of the 1940s and 1950s”, the event concerned banners advertising sideshow attractions that rarely, if ever, appeared in a ring in the Big Top. Many were people with deformities that attracted the curious. Today that naturally leads to thoughts of exploitation, and no one doubts that was sometimes the case, but sideshows provided income to many who would have had a tough time otherwise. When exploitation was mentioned, Otis the Frog Boy, who owned a car modified so he could drive it, wondered if people would prefer he was on welfare. Sylvia, the Big Footed Girl, made a good living for many years although, unable to wear shoes, she balked at appearing in the cold north. Many sideshow performers padded their paychecks by selling postcards and other items. Part of the spiel about Johann Petursson, the Viking Giant, was that he wore rings the size of napkin rings. He sold copies of his rings as souvenirs. Sometime after one of these rings came into Waller’s possession, he met a buddy’s new girlfriend from Iceland. When the conversation turned to circuses, she told of having a giant for an uncle and produced a childhood picture of her sitting on Johann’s lap. Waller gave her the ring.

Clearly, many of these banners made preposterous claims and stretched truth to the max. Many of the attractions were complete fakes that used mirrors, trick lighting, and other gimmicks. It might be a little hard for some of us to believe that people were that gullible just a few decades ago but what may be even harder to believe concerns an attraction that was 100% real and involved no trickery whatsoever. Once upon a time, tattooed women were so rare that people paid money to see them. Betty Broadbent retired in 1967.