Drake Well Museum and Park will hold its biennial Drake Day Circus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, August 25. The circus is a celebraton of the anniversary of Col. Edwin L. Drake’s oil strike, as well as the birth of the modern petroleum industry.
The celebration is modeled on the circuses that once traveled to Titusville, Pithole and other Pennsylvania towns in the oil region during the 1860s.
Bacchanal Promotions, a Detroit-based circus entertainment company, will return to the Drake Well Museum and Park to provide a variety of shows and activities including circus entertainment, fire performers, sideshow performers and fortunetelling. Signature performances will take place at 11 a.m. and at 2 p.m. Various strolling events will take place throughout the day.
A special addition to the circus this year will be the “Wild World of Animals” show. The show includes approximately 13 animals that range from reptiles to birds to mammals. The lineup is diverse, fitting one of the themes of the show: the importance of all animals.
The show is fast-paced and is a balance of fun and facts, according to Grant Kemmerer, the show runner and animal trainer, who has been a guest animal expert on television shows including Anderson Cooper, CBS Early Show, Fox and Friends, Martha Stewart, and the Meredith Vieira Show.
Another big draw at the Drake Day Circus will be the Cowpie Game. The game entails a dairy cow from R. Deeter Farm, being taken to a fenced-in area on which a grid has been laid.
Participants select a square of the grid and hope for the cow to make a “deposit” on it. The owner of the fortunate square will receive a free membership to the Friends of the Drake Well.
Visitors to the Drake Day Circus will be able to enjoy hands-on activities in the Discovery Zone, a vintage band organ provided by DeBence Antique Music World, a food booth operated by Friends of Drake Well, blacksmithing demonstrations, period photographs, face painting and more. Drake Well’s interior and exterior petroleum history exhibits will be open for all to enjoy.
Admission is $12 for adults ages 12 to 64, $5 for ages 3 to 11, and $9 for seniors 65 and older. The museum is located at 202 Museum Lane, Titusville. For more information, people may call (814) 827-2797 or visit www.drakewell.org.
