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What Is the Barnum Festival ?
For P.T. Barnum, whose worldwide influence is felt from Bridgeport to Bangkok, every day was like the Fourth of July, every one of his promotions produced a fireworks display. And that's precisely what the Barnum Festival is a 30-day-long Fourth of July celebration. A time to kick back, lighten up, block out all of the distractions in your life and embrace a mega-celebration of parades, concerts, parties, drum corps and the fireworks extravaganza at Seaside Park.
The Barnum Festival was created to make people feel good about celebrating the life and times of P.T. Barnum. During World War II Bridgeport was a beehive of activity. The city was a working person's paradise, supplying the brain and brawn for the war effort. Unfortunately, Bridgeport learned that its dependence on a wartime economy during the peacetime transition could not be sustained. Unemployment soared to shocking levels by the late 1940's, discretionary income fell, the citizenry was not in the best of moods.
The city and the region needed a lift. Bridgeport Brass executive Herman Steinkraus stepped up to the plate with an idea that would take residents' minds off the post-war troubles, much like the way P.T. Barnum thrilled and entertained residents and the growing number of immigrants who escaped their troubled foreign countries to seek a better life in Bridgeport in the late 19th century.
In 1948, so that Barnum's "kind acts may live forever," Steinkraus and community leaders established the Barnum Festival, saluting Barnum and the people and events that made him the greatest showman on earth. The Festival was the jolt of adrenaline the area needed. Concerts, circuses, parades, big bands and fireworks attracted huge crowds while celebrating Barnum's wide-ranging contributions to the city.
Today, more than ever, the Barnum Festival is an entertaining escape for the entire region, leading up to America's Fourth of July birthday celebration like a circus parade leading spectators to the glory of the big top.
In case you're wondering, Barnum was born on July 5, probably because he wanted the Fourth of July celebration to last another day. So whether you're watching the Wing Ding Children's Parade, the spectacular fireworks display at Seaside Park or Great Street Parade roaring down Park Avenue, remember that the Barnum Festival is a month-long Fourth of July celebration. Embrace it, enjoy it, exult in it.
Mr. Barnum is watching you.
--Lennie Grimaldi, author of Only in Bridgeport: An Illustrated History of the Park City
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