The "Annual" Calliope Festivals at Peru, IN are now history

The Second Annual Circus, Calliope and Mechanical Music Festival at the
International Circus Hall of Fame in Peru, Indiana, was held on June 16,
17 and 18, 2023.

For fans of circus music, it was a wonderful event from a musical
standpoint, but public attendance was very disappointing. There were
_six_ steam calliopes on the grounds plus about the same number of air
calliopes. We also had a variety of "band organs" and "busker organs."
In addition, the large circus band for the Peru Amateur Circus played
a fine concert.

At a presentation in the big animal barn I learned that the steam
calliope was originally a barrel organ, but the barrels were soon
replaced with keyboards. This not only offered the choice of a larger
repertoire, but also facilitated warming the pipes and dealing with
steam availability. Excess use of steam for music or whistles can stop
a steamboat. The introduction of MIDI has allowed a few calliopes to
become "mechanical" again. Two of the steam instruments at the festival
had MIDI, all had keyboards.

Air calliopes were originally keyboard instruments, with the later
addition of paper rolls. In my opinion, they, and player pianos, should
be considered to be keyboard instruments with added mechanisms, not
a form of cut-down orchestrion.

The steam instruments included quite a bit of variety. Three were circus
calliopes in wagons, two antique and one of recent construction. One was
an antique steamboat instrument. Two were amateur-built instruments, one
in a small trailered steamboat, one on a trailer with an ice cream
machine. All used packaged heating boilers which come with solid legal
credentials and safety features.

At the first year's event the steam instruments seemed to be trying
to out-play each other. This year coordination among the six steam
calliopes was much better. They even played duets and a trio with
surprising amounts of harmony from two steam calliopes and an air
calliope, each keyboard operated by a different person. Thank heavens
for the acceptance of digital tuners!

The festival may return as a biennial or triennial event if a way is
found to increase attendance.

Wallace Venable

 [ A report by the Kokomo Tribune newspaper is published at
 [ https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/local_news/article_dc1485c4-0c91-11ee-8475-ffaad6ba7d05.html 
 [ See also the MMD Calliope site at
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/Calliope/index.html 
 [ -- Robbie