Carnival sideshows work to keep fans

SKOWHEGAN – It’s tough earning a living as a freak these days. There’s just too much competition.

But members of what may be the nation’s last carnival sideshow are trying not to dwell on their industry’s decline in an era of myriad entertainment options.

“It has been one hell of a ride. I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” said C.M. Christ, manager of “The World of Wonders.”

The show consists of a “fat man,” a “little person,” and two performers who recline on beds of nails, eat fire and let audience members try to hang them with long ropes. It’s been playing at the Skowhegan State Fair, which runs through Saturday.

Bruce Snowdon, 57, once weighed more than 700 pounds, but like the sideshow itself, he has diminished in size over the years. His appetite just isn’t what it once was, he explained.

Shirtless and wearing black pants while sitting in an old armchair, he recalled how he got into the carnival life about 26 years ago after coming upon a book about circuses in a Portsmouth, N.H., library.

Unemployed and weighing about 500 pounds, Snowdon noticed a photo of a “fat man” who couldn’t have weighed more than 350 pounds. Less than a year later, he found a job and has been working ever since.

The economics of sideshow work have gotten steadily worse during the last two and a half decades. A century ago, when most people stayed within 10 miles of where they were born, there were probably 1,000 sideshows, Snowdon said.

But there’s no longer room for old-fashioned sideshows in the current environment of satellite television and the Internet, Snowdon said.

John LeBrun, 31, joined the show only this year, and the biggest reason was to experience history.

“I have been reading about this for the past 15 years. And there are not that many people who can say they have done it,” said LeBrun, who walks on glass and reclines on nails.

The carnival sideshow may be around for another year or two, but it won’t last much longer, he said.

Christ, the show’s manager, said he has been involved for 40 years, since he was 15 years old. Over the years he has filled jobs from announcer to welder, and he’s survived two tornadoes and two hurricanes.

Ever since he was a child, all he wanted to do was to be part of the show. This may be the last one, but Christ said he doesn’t feel sad about its end.

He plans to be buried next to a longtime business partner and the show’s Peter Terhurne, who at age 73 stands 3 feet, 7 inches tall.

“The three musketeers in life. The three musketeers in the hereafter,” Christ said.