Favorites who entertained children and adults attending the Children's Festival but are no longer participating need to be recorded here.
They are:
John Allen,"The Dragon Man", did woodcarvings at the festival. Watchers were fascinated by his skill with a chisel, knife and a block of wood. John, a retired engineer, is nationally known for his engineering design and work on the Submarine rides at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland. John presented tiny carved dragon tokens to the Major Chairs of the Festival at the end of each festival. Many are still to be seen proudly displayed in homes throughout the Rogue Valley.
Mr. Ken Buxton and his Boa Constrictor, BoBo, attended the festival every summer for 23 years. (Unless the snake was shedding and out of sorts -- at that time it was too dicey to risk having a child be bitten!).
JINGLES THE CLOWN (JINGLES with Steven Brazier)
From 1979 through 1986 Pat Blair entertained children with her "clowning around" as Jingles. Balloon animals were her specialty. Pat, Children's Librarian and Supervisor for Children's Services for Jackson County Library, has been actively involved in the Children's Festival since the first Children's Festival in 1967.
Bob Coash, The Magician, entertains everyone! He is friendly, talkative and fun but never gives away his secrets of magic. His performances were definitely "FOR THE CHILDREN"!
ANN CURRY of NBC NEWS' TODAY SHOW
was a regular "announcer" from the Britt Stage during the Children's Festival in the early years when she worked for NBC affiliate Channel 5 in Medford. Curry graduated from Ashland High School and the University of Oregon
and worked for the NBC affiliates in Medford and Portland before moving
to Los Angeles to report for KCBS-TV. Then she headed to NBC News,
where she has anchored "NBC News at Sunrise," "The Today Show" and
"Dateline NBC.
Her father BOB CURRY taught fifth grade at Talent Elementary School and led the festival goers in folk dancing during the festival.
DAVID DIALS, Pioneer Storyteller, told pioneer stories of Southern Oregon in the Gold Rush area of the Children's Festival (Tales of Hathaway Jones). David was an Elementary School Teacher in Gold Hill, Oregon. (Needed: a Photograph of David Dials)
BONNIE HARVEY
volunteered from 1973 up to 1987. Seven of those years Bonnie was the behind- the- scenes properties manager for the Festival. Each year she would see that the equipment and canopies, etc., were installed and made ready for the big event. In addition to keeping track of the materials used Bonnie created new equipment and large decorations as necessary when new booths were added. She created the Queen's Flags that decorate the pathway leading down to The Queen's Court. Originally she made 20 flags to commemorate our first 20 Queens. The tradition continues today and we now have a flag for each queen! ( 38 flags!) Bonnie created the oh- so- essential inventory notebook for the Festival properties and at the end of each festival Bonnie, and the Directors of the festival, would move the inventory back to our storage facility in White City. (Not the fun part of the job!)
JENALBI THE CLOWN , in real life, is Barbara Griffin a highly entertaining storyteller. She is well known in Jackson County for her Storytelling in the Schools (discontinued program) through Jackson County Educational Services District and as an author of books on storytelling.
The Children's Festival Fiddler, Bob Wilson.
Bob entertained children and their parents with his collection of folk tunes. Bob "fiddled around" at the Children's Festival from 1973 to 2000. Bob Wilson, until his retirement, was the Head Librarian for the Ashland Branch of Jackson County Library Services.
George McUne, was the PIONEER MAN!
THE ORIGINAL PIONEER VILLAGE, in Jacksonville, was founded by George McUne. George led numerous wagon train re-enactments the best known of which was the 1976 Applegate Trail re-enactment. George came to Children's Festival for many years to teach children how to use a real gold pan to pan for gold in our "Gold Rush Creek" box.
(photograph of George McUne wanted!)
(photograph of George McUne wanted!)
Michael Mullin first appeared at Children's Festival
in 1972 or 1973 during the Renaissance Festival days.
No one could forget Michael Mullin , who came dressed usually as a Pirate and brought his cannon which he fired off for many years with thunder and high drama. He handed out "gold coins" (which were pennies sprayed gold). When Michael was not a Pirate he would appear as a Gold Miner (with his bag of gold) or as a Clown or some other character created for the occasion.
THE PIED PIPER PLAYERS appeared during the Children's Festival and presented playlets based on children's folktales such as "Who's In Rabbit's House", "The Gunniwulf", "The Bremen Town Musicians", and others. The playlets were usually presented from the stage of the PIED PIPER THEATER .
Pied Piper Players were: Pat Blair, Margery Boyer, Gail Caperna, Alice Grimes, Janet Hannaford, Sharon Knight, Ilma McKern, Mickey McNee, Barbara Hunt and Marian Vincent Barker.
(Pied Piper Theater & Players photograph needed here)
(Pied Piper Theater & Players photograph needed here)
RED DAWN DANCERS performed authentic Native American hoop dances for the
children in 1974. This troop of dancers were ages 14-18 and were from Los Angeles, California.
The group was brought to the festival by Elizabeth Vickerman. An authentic Native American Tepee was borrowed from a local artist and architect, Bob Bosworth.
David Compton had just returned home from military duty in Vietnam and was working for BLM. Dave drove up into the mountains where lodgepole pines were being cleared and brought back the huge lodgepoles for the Tepee! The theme that year was PIONEER FESTIVAL. (Photo of David Compton & Tepee needed!)
THE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL DANCERS performed their dances on the Britt Stage during Children's Festival for many years on the dark day & night at the Oregon Shakespearean Festival.
JIM ROBINSON, an outstanding and Nationally known potter/sculptor, began teaching children how to throw pots on a potter's wheel when he was still in school at Southern Oregon University. Jim's sculpted clay figures are "sought-after" collector's items today. (Photo of Jim Robinson needed!)
Richard Taylor, Body painter, created his own cartoon characters from "UP ON THE GREEN SPRINGS", and painted them on the arms, legs, backs and faces of thousands of children who then would refuse to take a bath for fear of washing off the characters! Richard managed his family's ranch on the Green Springs the rest of the year but came down the mountain for Children's Festival for 17 years!
NOTE: Important to know about these talented and dedicated people is that each one VOLUNTEERED their time at the Children's Festival . . . FOR THE CHILDREN!
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