SOMERS, N.Y. - On the 16th anniversary of the creation of World Circus Day, Somers celebrated its unique place in history with speeches, poetry, museum tours, refreshments, a video about the restoration of the Old Bet monument, and the traditional placing of a peanut wreath at granite obelisk’s base.
The town is known as “The Cradle of the American Circus” because of 19th-century Somers farmer turned visionary menagerie entrepreneur Hachaliah Bailey.
Old Bet was an Indian elephant that he’d originally purchased to help plow his fields. When that didn’t work out as planned, he decided to make some money by exhibiting the exotic beast.
After his star was shot dead by an irate farmer while on tour in Maine, Bailey erected a monument in her honor in front of his second enterprise, The Elephant Hotel, which now houses the town’s offices.
The original wreath was placed in 1922 by “Old John,” an elephantine member of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Among those taking part in the ceremony on Saturday, April 18, were Dr. Arthur H. Saxon, author, P.T. Barnum scholar, and the first American to be made an honorary member of the French Club du Cirque; Bruce E. Hawley, president of the Circus Historical Society, which has members in 12 countries, and a distant cousin of P.T. Barnum; Jonathon Benjamin, president of the Somers Historical Society; and town Supervisor Robert Scorrano.
Town historian Doris Jane Smith read “The Prayer of the Elephant,” a poem written by Carmen Bernos de Gasztod.
“Dear God,/ it is I, the elephant,/ Your creature,/ who is talking to You./ I am so embarrassed by my great self/ and truly it is not my fault/ if I spoil Your jungle a little with my big feet./ Let me be careful and behave wisely,/ always keeping my dignity and poise. Give me such philosophic thoughts/ that I can rejoice everywhere I go/in the lovable oddity of things.”
To Hawley, there’s no better place than Somers to celebrate World Circus Day.
“So much history came from this town, with Hachaliah Bailey and many of his partners who were involved in the American menagerie,” he said, noting that Bailey had “influenced” Barnum, who lived not that far away in Bethel, Conn.
“On a personal level it’s nice to see many of those connections come together,” he said Saturday.
Grace Zimmermann, a member of the historical society (and the hot-glue-gun-wielding maker of the brand-new peanut wreath … the old one, unfortunately, had been gnawed on by squirrels), told spectators that 2027 is the 200th anniversary of the Old Bet monument.
She advised folks to save the date (TBA) for a bunch of fun and educational stuff such as the unveiling of Somers’ Museum of the American Circus’ newly restored outfit that had belonged to Charles Stratton, a 25-inch-tall performer who was promoted by Barnum as “General Tom Thumb.”
Stratton reported sported the elaborate velvet ensemble when he was first presented to England’s Queen Victoria.
The museum is located on the third floor of the Elephant Hotel, 335 Route 202, Somers, N.Y.
It features 19th-century artifacts, photographs, and a miniature replica of a circus.
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