Articles
Massachusetts Dalton Lions Drop Controversial Circus Fundraiser
Thanks to those who have protested through the years!
See A Big Top THANK YOU letter
HERE.
Massachusetts Dalton Lions Drop
Controversial Circus Fundraiser
Posted Tuesday, October 8, 2019 6:21 pm
By Larry Parnass, The Berkshire Eagle
DALTON — The Dalton Lions Club will no longer host traveling circus acts
that have drawn protests, parting ways with a longtime fundraising tool —
and with an outspoken member who championed such events.
Over 26 years, the club raised $76,000 by providing a venue and market for
itinerant circus performers, then steering proceeds to its charitable
causes.
But at a recent meeting, members of the nonprofit civic group voted to halt
any involvement with acts like the Kelly Miller Circus or the Zerbini Family
Circus, two of its recent partners.
"It is time to move on to other projects," the club's president, Robert
Bishop, said in a statement.
"We notified the circus that it's not happening," he said in an interview.
Privately, the club concedes the change in direction is a response to
opposition from groups like Berkshire Advocates for Animals. Local protests
of the club's annual circus event began in 1996 and continued through the
final performance this past summer.
"We're here to raise money, not to make people mad," one club member said.
While local opponents cheered the decision, the turnabout does not please
Dan McGinnis Sr., the club's most vocal defender of the circus tradition.
McGinnis, who is no longer a member of the Dalton Lions, said he was not
aware that the future of hosting the circus was on the agenda of the recent
meeting.
"I would have fought that with my last breath," he said. "It's very sad that
it turned out that way. I'm very upset with them. I put a lot of years in
there. I wish them well."
In a statement, Bishop thanked residents and local business owners who
supported the club by attending the circus for more than a quarter century.
He also cited McGinnis "for all of his hard work with the circus."
In the last few years, pressure has mounted in Berkshire County — and
elsewhere — to forbid performances of nondomesticated animals. A warrant
article banning circus events failed to pass at Dalton's annual town meeting
in 2015 by a 2-1 margin. But the following year, the Pittsfield City Council
endorsed a ban, passing the measure 8-3.
McGinnis helped lead opposition to both bans, in person and in regular
letters to the editor of The Berkshire Eagle.
In a 2017 letter, McGinnis wrote to explain why the club did not accept a
donation of $5,000 from Allen Harris, CEO and chief investment officer of
Berkshire Money Management. Harris had offered up to $25,000 to help the
club cover lost income from circus ticket sales if it agreed to work with
him to devise other ways to raise money.
"The Lions will not be pressured into accepting any such offer," McGinnis
wrote. "It was an attempt at political strong-arming masquerading as
philanthropy."
McGinnis has refuted claims of animal mistreatment by circus companies,
despite documentation gathered by government groups. He has also said
"animal rights extremist organizations" engage in campaigns of
misinformation.
And he has stressed that the Dalton circus events were well-attended. "It's
brought a lot of money into town," said McGinnis, a recipient of the Melvin
Jones award from the Lions, the club's highest honor. He challenged the club
to explain to low-income families why free tickets to the shows will no
longer be available.
Harris said Tuesday he was moved and heartened to learn the club will
discontinue its association with any circus.
"The treatment of animals is very important to me," Harris said. In his
view, activities that take advantage of animals are "a reflection of the
worst part of humanity. I'm really getting emotional seeing that we're
making some progress."
Terry Carlo, of Pittsfield, who protested Dalton circus events for much of
two decades, said she began campaigning for animal welfare out of concern
for the treatment of circus elephants, believing that the strain of
transportation and exposure to heat endangers them. She noted the death of a
54-year-old elephant, Beulah, at last month's Eastern States Exposition in
West Springfield.
"It just didn't seem like a life for an animal," she said.
This summer, Carlo and the roughly 15 members of Berkshire Advocates for
Animals protested shows by the Zerbini Family Circus in Dalton. The group
included six students from Taconic High School. "We were really proud of
them."
Carlo applauded news that 23 years of protests can be called off in Dalton.
"That's amazing. It's great," she said.
She predicted that community support for the club will rebound with new
giving, following the decision. "We don't have anything against them," she
said of the Lions. "They do good work."
Marnie Meyers, of Windsor, another longtime critic of circus operations,
said she also wants to help the Dalton Lions transition to new forms of
fundraising.
"We will try and help them raise money in some other way," Meyers said.
Though she acknowledged that attendance at past circus performances appeared
to be robust, that popularity might have been waning, leading the club to
seek a change. Bishop, the club leader, said attendance was down in 2019.
"There's been an evolution in our culture," Meyers said. "There's this whole
transition in how people view their entertainment. It's a realization a
tipping point."
One industry leader, the 146-year-old Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Circus, went out of business in May 2017. Another, Cole Brothers, has ceased
touring, according to media reports.
The Kelly Miller Circus halted use of wild animals in 2018 and this year
went "animal-free," according to People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, which has mobilized opposition to circus acts for years.
Melody Ramirez, ringmaster for the Zerbini Family Circus, told the Rockland,
Maine, City Council this summer that her family-owned business uses only
dogs, ponies and miniature donkeys in its performances. The council
nonetheless denied the circus a permit for two July shows after officials
received questions about animal welfare, according to a report on WGME-TV,
Channel 13. The shows were moved to a nearby town.
Meyers disputed claims offered in years past by circus proponents that
traveling acts enabled young people without access to zoos to observe wild
animals up close.
"It's still in a cage that hinders its natural needs," she said. "It's not
an adequate life for this species."
Bishop, president of the Dalton Lions, issued an appeal for people to
support one of the club's new fundraisers, a concert by the band Union Jack
to be held Feb. 1 at the Stationery Factory.
The Dalton Circus is "Fini!" I want to thank Matt Kelly for making the
protests happen. Every year Matt would call and say, "When are we
protesting?" He would call Dalton Police to notify them of our presence.
Next he would send out the protest schedule to everyone who was on the BAFA
list.
For years we coordinated an intense letter writing campaign, but as time
passed, people (not even in our group!) wrote letters and it took on a life
of its own. Many soon joined us in protest! This also raised the profile of
animal suffering and helped sway the public to our cause. We witnessed the
dozen or so camp buses driven to zero and the American Legion parking lot
once filled to capacity, dwindle to less than one third full.
Thanks to you who came from near and far to protest! This victory would not
have been possible without each and every one of you. Over 23 years we
breathed a lot of exhaust, baked in heat, ate dust and worried rain worried
would run our signs.
We listened to hundreds of hurled insults which over many years gave way
to horn beeping, thumbs up and voiced approval! We even survived an attempt
on our lives in Lanesboro protesting the circus at the mall!
Also, we were "corrected" by police at the behest of Lions Club members, but
it did not compare to what animals endured and still do today. In all the
years, the only protestor asked to leave by Dalton Police due to aggressive
behavior was a Circus Fan of America member. It is a bittersweet victory
because animals like Beulah the elephant continue to die for entertainment's
sake.
But we should still celebrate! Let us know your ideas! I will do the food if
we have a place to use!
Email Terry at [email protected] or
call 413-442-3749.
For the Animals,
Terry, BVN
