Brookfield Performers Help Tell the Tale of Danbury Fair Through Song and Dance

Billy Michael and his “Cavalcade of Stars” played to a packed house at the Palace Theater on Sunday for the 2nd Annual Great Danbury Fair Revue.

The Bethel showman, musician and story teller organized the event along with announcer Jack Stetson. The pair walked the audience through the decades, going as for back as the Civil War era, all the way up through John Leahy’s revival of the fair in 1946 to the closure in 1981.

Palace Theater Manager Carol Spiegel introduced the show by saying “you can smell it in the air. It’s fair weather.”

The performance started off with a sentimental tune written and performed through video by Dave King. Many in the audience were wiping away tears while gazing at original photos and videos of fair days gone by on the big screen.

Eighty-two year old Bobbie Thuman Christos of Brookfield performed her baton twirling act on stage and received a standing ovation for her mastery of the tool. Thuman used to twirl for the Grassy Plain Drum Corps in Bethel and was the national baton twirling champion in 1947.

Natalie Alanna and Matthew Ames of Brookfield’s Fred Astaire Dance Studio performed the Lindy Hop to Gene Krupa’s In the Mood.

Cowboy Billy Smith, an original fair entertainer who used to play in Gold Town, played two songs and said, “It was the happiest venue in all the venues of the fair.”

Michael and his band took audience members on a nostalgic journey in time through story, song and dance that had viewers laughing, getting misty-eyed and smiling, thinking about “the happiest fair grounds on the face of the earth,” as Dave King sang.

Photo credit: Wendy Mitchell

To see more photos, click here.

Have a news tip? Email wendy.mitchell@ patch.com. You can also post your own news, events and announcements on Patch by following these directions. Curious about how our new commenting platform, Disqus, works? Learn more about it here and start interacting with your neighbors on Patch.

Photo: Wendy Mitchell

To see more photos, click here.