Elephants, tigers, clowns will live at Butler Eagle until at least September
Butler’s late, great artist and sign painter Jimmy Bashline appeared in an April 29, 1988, Butler Eagle article in which the reporter, Donna Ungor Sybert, detailed Bashline’s painstaking hobby of carving tiny animals, people, props and more during the creation of his crowning artistic achievement, the Jay Bee Circus.
On Tuesday, the Eagle and Bashline’s creation came full circle, as the men who treasure the Jay Bee Circus carefully placed it in a corner of the newspaper’s production center that is one floor below the office of the managing editor, Donna Ungor Sybert. The move took about 90 minutes.
Eagle Publisher Ron Vodenichar and General Manager Tammy Schuey agreed to store the bespoke Butler relic at the newspaper’s West Wayne Street headquarters until it is permanently displayed, hopefully at the Evans City Public Library.
The 10-foot-by-14-foot display of hundreds of handcarved figures as well as a big top, menagerie, sideshow, food tent, train yard and circus parade encircled by a Lionel train were created by Bashline, who died May 14, 2008.
Bashline worked on the Jay Bee circus for 30 years based on his memories of the three or four circus outfits per year in the 1940s and ‘50s that would unload their exotic animals at the railroad tracks near Oesterling’s Lawn & Garden at North Monroe and Kittanning streets and walk them through town to a lot near Pullman Standard or to the former county fairgrounds, where Butler Senior High School now stands.
Vodenichar said longtime Eagle Publisher Vernon L. Wise Jr. has spoken of watching the elephants and giraffes being unloaded from the train and marched through Butler many years ago.
“I have heard Mr. Wise speak about the magic and wonder that he and his friends felt when the circus came to town,” Vodenichar said. “How could we at the Eagle not step up, as we always do for the community?”
Bashline’s miniature iteration of the circus spent many years at the Butler Heritage Center on New Castle Street, but a permanent location has been in flux since the Butler County Historical Society closed the Heritage Center some years ago.
When it ended up in Wampum, Lawrence County, in August 2020, Bob Brandon, who first saw the Jay Bee Circus at age 6, hit the ceiling, or the big top, as it were.
He contacted Jack Cohen, the Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau president, and Ed Wadding, the former county historical society president.
“Between the three of us, we were very upset that the Bashline circus had left Butler County,” Wadding said Tuesday.
Wadding said Cohen was able to get the Jay Bee Circus back from the Wampum Area Historical Society — where officials had planned to restore and display it but were stymied by the coronavirus pandemic — and take it to Brandon’s garage for storage.
Brandon died in December, and his widow, Charlotte, decided to sell the property where the circus was stored.
On Tuesday, several people who treasure the miniature circus arrived at the Brandon property to retrieve the setup and move it to the Eagle.
Dan Morrow grew up attending First English Lutheran Church and, as a boy, knew fellow congregant, Jimmy Bashline.
“When I saw the article in the paper last year (about the circus being returned from Wampum), I told my wife ‘I want to get involved in this,’” Morrow said.
Morrow and Brandon worked in Brandon’s garage to restore the features created by Bashline and ensure all 10 moving features in the circus are in working order and the tiny people and animals were sturdy enough to be moved.
Morrow, Mark Hall, Rue Snider and a handful of Eagle employees carefully carried the circus into the building and placed a tarp over it late Tuesday morning.
Snider recalls watching the circus animals being unloaded at the railroad tracks near Oesterling’s in 1950.
“For a 4-year-old to see this happening, it was unbelievable,” Snider said. “When I saw that Bob was bringing it back, I sent him a letter and said ‘Count me in.’”
“It’s the history of what used to happen in Butler,” said a perspiring Morrow. “It means everything to have somewhere to keep it until (it is set up for display.).”
Morrow said moving the beloved circus to a safe storage space was a great relief to Charlotte Brandon as well.
“This is a hard and sad day, but Bob would be very happy that the circus found a permanent home,” she said through tears as Morrow and others packed the structure up for its move to the Eagle. “That's what his wish was. He really loved the past of Butler County and gave his all and he enjoyed last summer with Dan getting this circus to be functional again, and I know he would be very happy today."
Lee Dyer, a Rotarian and former council president in Evans City, heard from a friend that Cohen and company were looking for a display location for the circus.
Dyer met with Cohen and Vodenichar, then approached the Evans City library board to ask if the circus could be displayed there.
The library board of directors will vote Thursday night on whether to accept the circus for display.
“The tourism bureau would own it, and it would be on loan to the Evans City Area Public Library,” Dyer said.
Dyer was amazed at Bashline’s creation when he viewed it at his meeting with Cohen and Vodenichar.
“I think the circus is absolutely extraordinary,” Dyer said. “I thought it would be a nice thing when I saw it, but it was ... wow.”
He marveled at the painstaking detail Bashline included in the piece and the amount of time he must have spent on it.
“I mean, right down to the tent where they serve the workers breakfast,” Dyer said. “There are eggs on the grill.”
He said the if the library board votes to display the circus, a suitable space could be ready by fall.
“We are thrilled with the opportunity to have it displayed at the Evans City library,” Dyer said. “If we display it, we are going to do this up very well. Everyone will be very pleased.”
In the meantime, Vodenichar is proud to store the restored Jay Bee Circus at the Eagle, especially given the hard work and determination of those who refused to see it fall into ruin and disappear from Butler County.
“It’s an honor and a pleasure to be part of the newest chapter of the Jimmy Bashline Circus,” he said.
