Entertaining piece of county history goes on display at Butler Eagle
Step right up, Butler history buffs and children from 1 to 101, to see what may be the most intricate and impressive piece of folk art in the land of the dollar bill.
The Jay Bee Circus, created by the late Butler artist Jimmy Bashline in the 20 years following his discharge from the military after World War II, will be available for public viewing at the Butler Eagle, 514 W. Wayne St., until a permanent home is found for the 10-by-14-foot display.
Some features of the miniature exhibit include costumed girls dancing at a side show, lions and tigers roaring at their trainers in one of three rings, a colorful caravan pulled by six camels, athletic trapeze artists flying through the air, a pumpkin carriage pulled by four ponies, an elephant squirting real water on its trainer, and a big top made by a former awning company on Mercer Street that used plans sent to Bashline by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Bashline, a venerated Butler sign maker and artist who died in May 2008, created the masterpiece using his memories of the circus coming to Butler many decades ago and unloading the exotic animals from the train at Oesterling’s Feed Store on South Monroe Street.
Crowds gathered along Jefferson Street as the magnificent beasts were led by their trainers to the site of the current Butler High School, which was at that time the county fairgrounds.
“We’re excited to be able to invite the public in to see this priceless piece of Butler history, which is also really fun to look at,” said Tammy Schuey, Butler Eagle general manager. “It takes you back to your childhood.”
The Jay Bee Circus remains in existence because of a handful of individuals, living and deceased, who refused to see Bashline’s two decades of work fall to ruin.
Dan Morrow, who helped restore the circus so it can be displayed now, said Bashline worked on the project at his sign shop on Broad Street beginning in 1946, after his discharge from the military.
If Bashline saw kids walking by, he couldn’t resist inviting them in to look at the miniature circus.
“He loved to show it off,” Morrow said.
When the detailed, animated circus started getting too big for the shop, Bashline moved it to his home to complete it.
The circus, under Bashline’s watchful eye, made its way to the Butler Farm Show grounds and Mellon Bank on the Diamond for display before finding what everyone thought was a permanent home at the Butler County Historical Society’s Heritage Center in the former Robin’s Furniture Store on New Castle Street.
Ed Wadding was the president of the historical society in 2007 when he was approached about displaying the Jay Bee Circus at the Heritage Center.
He recalled that David Todd, former president at Armco’s Butler Works — now Cleveland-Cliffs — made a generous donation so the circus could be professionally moved to the Heritage Center.
The Butler Eagle also made significant donations to keep the circus on display, Wadding said.
When the Heritage Center closed in 2011, the lights under Bashline’s big top were doused and the trains encircling the circus were packed up as the display was taken to a building beside the Senator Walter Lowrie House in Butler for storage.
“We were very concerned about that because we wanted to see it exhibited,” Wadding said.
So after Wadding’s term at the historical society ended, the new officials began contacting potential places where the circus might be housed out of a desire for the amazing piece of art to be displayed.
The circus ended up at the Lawrence County Historical Society in Wampum, which greatly upset one of those “kids” in from the 1950s Bashline had invited into his shop to view the circus.
“Bob Brandon called me and said (the Jay Bee Circus) was moved away, and I said ‘Why would that happen?’” said Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau.
Cohen said he visited the circus in Wampum, where it was not on display. He said a man there bought it for his intellectually disabled son, who loved trains.
Cohen told the man that while he understood his motivation for buying the circus, it belonged in Butler County.
“I talked to him about how important it was to get it into Butler County and have people see it,” Cohen said. “I promised him it would be displayed.”
The man relented and the tourism bureau became the relic’s owner.
The circus was stored in Brandon’s basement in Center Township, but an article in the Eagle stirred the heart of Morrow, who grew up in the church the Bashlines attended.
“I wanted to honor his legacy and help with this circus,” Morrow said.
He, Brandon and a small group of interested gentlemen including Rue Snyder and Mark Hall, worked to restore the circus to Bashline’s top-notch condition.
When Brandon died in December 2021 after the rejuvenation of the circus was complete, the display was carefully moved to the production center at the Butler Eagle for storage.
But Morrow did not forget a conversation he had with Schuey at that time.
“Tammy said ‘By all means, we will show it,’” he said.
A soft opening, by invitation only, was held Friday, and Schuey said the public will be able to view the Jay Bee Circus beginning next week with showtimes to be announced in the newspaper and online at www.butlereagle.com.
A $5 donation will be requested of adults; admission for children age 16 and younger will be free. Volunteer docents are also sought.
Showtimes will vary to accommodate the fluctuating schedule of the Eagle production center, where the circus is housed.
“I can’t thank the Eagle enough,” Morrow said. “I’m so excited to have the public see the circus. It truly is a treasure of Butler County and something that Bob Brandon thought needed to be in Butler County.”
Morrow said Bashline sculpted and painted every animal, lettered every sign, and painted every figure in the circus, which includes Bashline and his daughter, Aryl, coming out of the outhouses on the property.
Wadding said the late county coroner, William F. “Digger” Young, appears as one of the miniature people at the circus, as do many other prominent Butler County citizens of Bashline’s day.
“Maybe people could come look at the circus and identify them for us,” he said.
Morrow said that when Bashline’s health began to decline, those who were aware of his passion for the Jay Bee Circus told him six months before he died that his beloved big top circus would be displayed in Butler.
“There’s no question in my mind that Jimmy Bashline and Bob Brandon are smiling down on us today, knowing that circus is going to be exhibited at the Eagle,” Morrow said.
