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Photograph: BIG TOP IN THE BOROUGH: Workers set up the ring for the Circus-With-A-Purpose. Photo Credit: Wanda Benvenutti.

City Island circus storms Castle Hill

By Xenia Pamulaklakin, Staff Reporter

They knew it wasn't Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, but cash-strapped parents with activity-starved children recently welcomed the Circus With-A-Purpose as cheap and safe family entertainment.

When City Island's North Wind Museum kicked off its 1995 educational circus tour in Castle Hill on March 24, it drew a crowd of restless children with their parents in tow. And though it can only boast the largest stallion "this side of America," spectators from nearby housing projects and from as far away as Fordham formed a long line to the ticket booth.

But it was not just the stallion that drew families to the circus. There is simply no other place to take the children, parents said.

Eric Sierra, 32, who accompanied an army of nephews and nieces to the circus, said it beats taking the children downtown for a weekend treat.

"Basically if you want to air the children out you have to spend a lot of money and time commuting," Sierra said. "It's just too bad this only happens once a year."

Residents bemoaned the lack of recreational facilities and community centers for the more than 90 housing projects scattered throughout the borough. Every Bronx community board said it needs more playgrounds.

A strictly mom-and-pop affair, the circus differentiates itself from its big-league counterparts by its educational and environmental messages.

Between acts, Michael Sandlofer, the circus director, exhorts children to stay in school. And pointing to one of the circus stars, a three-and-a-half-year-old leopard that jumps through hoops, he instructs them on the importance of preserving endangered animals.

But Jenien Zalandes, 9, said she doesn't remember learning anything but how to juggle and how to ride a unicycle. "I like feeding the animals most," she said.

The Circus With-A-Purpose is exactly the kind of thing children wait for, said Pam Wood, director of the Rare Breed Animal Farm of North Wind.

"We always target neighborhoods that have a great need for safe, affordable, family events, those places where people normally don't have a lot of choices," Wood said.

North Wind Museum is a nonprofit organization known for its school-based environmental programs, and for its valiant efforts to save animals bound for the glue factory. This is the third year the museum has offered a touring circus.


The Bronx Beat, April 3, 1995