Al Stencell is a CHS Past President. Al is a Canadian and has been a trustee since the 1997 reorganization. A retired showman, he worked his way up through concessions, novelties, and bill posting until becoming a showman. From 1973 to 1976 he was part owner of Royal Bros. He and his wife founded and operated Martin and Downs Circus from 1977 to 1983. In 1983 he built Super Circus International and toured it until 1992. A gifted raconteur, his knack for storytelling led to writing two popular books, with a third soon to be published.

Stasia Kelly is a media veteran who has enjoyed a diverse career both in and out of the spotlight. She spent a number of years as a broadcast personality in Atlanta, GA and the Tampa Bay area in FL. She served as an Advance Representative and writer for the Ice Capades, and has worked regularly as a voice artist for a variety of regional and national companies. She worked in corporate television, most notably producing an award winning internal video series for the forest products giant, Georgia-Pacific, as well as projects for UPS, Coca-Cola and IBM. Her current position as a Media Relations Specialist for the Georgia Forestry Commission incorporates her love of forestry and the outdoors with her passion for people and writing. Stasia was born to a circus family in Sarasota, FL, the one-time home of Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. Her mother, Evi, was an acrobat with the “Four Whirlwinds” from Germany. Her father was the world-famous clown, Emmett Kelly, Sr., who created the iconic sad-faced character, “Weary Willie,” on his drawing board as a young cartoonist.

Betsy Golden Kellem is a historian and Fortune 5 media/intellectual property attorney. A scholar of the unusual, her writing on circus and entertainment history has appeared in The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, Smithsonian, Atlas Obscura, and Slate. Betsy serves on the board of directors of the Barnum Museum, regularly speaks on circus and legal history, and has taught at Yale University. She blogs at her history site Drinks With Dead People, an ongoing effort to answer the old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? If you ask nicely, she will juggle knives for you.

Maureen Brunsdale serves Illinois State University as its Special Collections Librarian in Milner Library, where she delights in finding ways to collaborate with her colleagues to integrate the circus into the curricular offerings of ISU. She’s authored two books on central Illinois’ circus history – most recently In the Shadow of the Big Top: The Life of Ringling’s Unlikely Circus Savior (Roman & Littlefield, 2023) which details the lives of central-Illinois circus stars turned circus executives, Arthur M. Concello and his wife, Antoinette. Her educational background consists of degrees throughout the upper Midwest – a graduate degree in management from the University of South Dakota, a master’s degree in library science from the University of Iowa, and undergraduate degrees from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.

While representing RBBB at the Wu Ciao festival, Chris was discovered by Cirque du Soleil and created/performed a BMX bike act for their first tour of Japan and later a German Wheel act for their production of Quidam. His engineering chops and creative energy led him to run away with his own circus company, Cirque Mechanics.  Chris’ innovative machines interact with acrobats, in Cirque Mechanics productions of Birdhouse Factory, Boom Town, Pedal Punk, 42ft and in Zephyr, A Whirlwind of Circus, which continues its US theater tour this fall. Cirque Mechanics presented their first production Under Canvas in 2022 and are now preparing for a holiday run in their very own orange and gray big top at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando this December. Chris is a producing partner of the Vegas International Variety Arts Festival (VIVA Fest), and a Founding Board Member of the American Circus Alliance (ACA).

With over 25 years of experience in the circus and entertainment industry, Julie Parkinson is the first third-generation member of the Circus Historical Society. Julie’s performing career spanned 15 years, beginning at Circus World Museum and later performing for 4 years on Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Blue Unit, among other shows. In 2003 Julie joined the Big Apple Circus where she served as Company Manager for 3 years. Next Julie joined the staff at Cirque du Soleil’s The Beatles LOVE while the show was in creation. She stayed with LOVE for 5 years, later moving to VIVA Elvis and finally Zarkana, completing over 7 years with CDS in lead positions. Recently Julie managed the social media for The Ringling for over a year. She currently resides in Sarasota, while working as a freelance designer and artist for Cirque du Soleil and other large-scale production companies. Julie is the daughter of Greg Parkinson, who was the Executive Director of Circus World Museum for 17 years and the granddaughter of Bob Parkinson, founder of the Robert L. Parkinson Library and Research Center at Circus World Museum. Julie enjoys collecting circus posters and learning about circus history. She is thrilled to have been recently elected to the CHS board of directors and hopes that her experience, ideas and network will help generate new memberships for the organization.

Kat Vecchio’s work explores American entertainment history and popular culture. She has written articles for Atlas Obscura and Narratively about circus and burlesque history and produced and directed a feature documentary about roller derby. Her current research focuses on the lives of female performers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. At the 2018 CHS convention she gave a presentation on female circus performers participation in early movie stunt work. She is the CCO at Fork Films, a nonfiction media company based in New York City.

Jim Foster remembers feeding peanuts to the Ringling elephants in the late ‘30s, clowning for a day with Dailey Bros. in the ‘40s and hanging out with Doc Henderson when Cecil B. DeMille was plotting camera angles on The Greatest Show on Earth in 1949–50.  He’s written numerous newspaper stories about the circus and a few years ago worked Ken Harck’s Bros. Grimm Circus Freak Show on Funtown Pier at Seaside Heights. N.J.

Trustee Fred D. Pfening III is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan and holds a master’s degree in economic history from Ohio State University. He has been a CHS member almost his entire life, having joined in 1961 when only twelve years old. He is a past President (1986-89), has bee a Trustee since CHS was reorganized in 1997, and has served as Managing Editor of Bandwagon. He is CEO of the Fred D. Pfening Company, manufacturers of bakery and allied machinery, Columbus, Ohio.

Trustee Brian Hollifield and his wife, Kisha, operate Freedom Auction Company, who’s focus is sale of special collections.  Living and working in the Sarasota area made it nearly impossible to avoid the circus bug and soon they found themselves selling Circus Memorabilia.  In the curating process of circus catalogs, there has always been an effort to get the historical facts correct concerning items that were to be sold.  The CHS became a wonderful resource and in the process, Brian discovered a new-found passion, that being the research and discovery of all things circus. 

Peter Gorman lives in Vancouver, BC. He has had a successful career in the Decorative Arts for almost 40 years which has allowed him to become a collector of circus artifacts to preserve and protect and restore these important elements of our circus history. He has been a member of the CHS for over 25 years. Peter is a 30-year board member of the Circus Hall of Fame in Peru, IN, and is currently a Vice President in the role of creating an Indiana Circus Legacy in cooperation with State and Local agencies. A model builder since the age of 6, Peter is a 30+-year member of the Circus Model Builders. His diorama is currently in the French Lick West Baden Museum, along with the Two Hemispheres bandwagon, to engage and promote public interest in circus history preservation in that part of Indiana. 

Aíne Norris (pronounced “AWN-yuh”) is a doctoral student in the department of English at Old Dominion University and a literature and composition college instructor. Her research interests include circus and sideshow history, oddities, and the archival examination of lore, superstition, and the occult. Her work can be read in Horror Homeroom, Margaret Atwood Studies Journal, and Bandwagon. Norris also serves as a graduate advisory board member for Popular Culture Association. Her research uncovering new information about turn-of-the-century circus aerialist, Eva Clark, was featured in the Cincinnati Enquirer, The News Virginian, and as a special feature on WHSV TV-3 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Learn more at ainenorris.info.

Peggy Williams was the first female graduate of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College to ever appear in The Greatest Show On Earth in 1970.  Her accomplishments as a performer, instructor and mentor helped pave the way for many aspiring entertainers who would appear in the circus.  In 1980, she distinguished herself again by becoming the first woman to take the role as assistant performance director for Ringling, before being appointed performance director – again a first in the company’s history – for the Special International Edition of The Greatest Show On Earth to visit Japan. Peggy’s passion for education would ultimately take her from the live show to the Feld Entertainment corporate office, where in 1980 she worked to create Ringling’s Department of Education Services.  Under her leadership Circusworks was created as a resource for teachers that explored many areas of curriculum that brought circus themes into the classroom.

Wayne McCary grew up in the amusement park industry and was the CEO of the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland Maine. He is the former CEO of the Eastern States Exposition from 1991 thru 2012, the founder and producer of the Exposition’s Super Circus from 1970-2012 and the producer of the Maine Shrine Circus circuit for forty consecutive years.  In recent years he has replicated the Big E Super Circus experience at the Utah State Fair and the Indiana State Fair.  McCary has served as President of both the OABA and the IAFE. and was an active advocate for the retention of animals in the circus and fair industries.  He currently serves as the Vice President of the Federation Mondiale du Cirque in Monte Carlo.

Mike Melssen’s more than 40 years of experience with touring shows, attractions, and exhibits began with Feld Entertainment in 1980, first as a Regional Marketing Director and then shortly afterwards, transferring to the Blue Unit of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. There, he held several positions, before advancing to General Manager from 1987-1994. This experience served him well as he transitioned into an independent consultant and production manager for a variety of other touring ventures including DisneyFair, DisneyFest Asia, NFL Experience Live/On Tour, Nickelodeon Rocket Power Live, The Mummy Returns, Live, Big Apple Circus-Abu Dhabi Summer Festival & primarily, as Touring Exhibit Production Coordinator for The Academy of Art University. As a young person, Mike was intrigued by many of the unique aspects of a traveling circus. Little did he ever expect that one day that he’d be responsible for bringing TGSOE to so many cities and for the pleasure of so many.

Trustee Emeritus Dave Price was born in Nashville the same year that both Barnes-Sells-Floto with RBBB Features and Robbins Bros with Clyde Beatty played the town. His earliest circus memories are from 1943 when he saw two circuses; at one he saw Beatty and at the other Gargantua.  He has collected circus posters since 1952. Price worked as a billposter on the advance of eight different circuses, both large and small, and his wife Mary Jane was a press agent when they were with the Hanneford show. He eventually earned a B. S. from Middle Tennessee State College and an M. A. Ed. from Tennessee State University. Dave joined the CHS in 1958 and attended his first convention in 1966. His first piece to appear in Bandwagon was in 1967 followed by more than a dozen over the years.  He served as secretary 1968-69 and secretary/treasurer 1996-2003.