Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Rare Bird Farm #6


SAVE2839, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Mrs. Ray's llama drill at McKee Jungle Gardens at Vero Beach, Florida in the early 1960's.

Posted by Buckles at 5/16/2007 08:11:00 AM

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mrs. Ray had the llamas and some other animals at a fair date in the late 50s/early 60s that were some of the best animal acts i'd ever seen. i was in high school and visited every day she ws in town. Mrs. Ray was a wonderful person and I learned so much during our conversations. Her kindness and understanding -- and her obvious training and performing abilities -- are among my favorite memories. I watched her acts every day and enjoyed them just as much the night they closed as i did the night they opened. Another great one-o-a-kind people that made this business great.

16 May, 2007 11:33
Anonymous said...

I like the combination of white animals with red plumes. It's so circus-y! One of the years on Carson and Barnes I had a liberty act with six white Andalusians. They wore red plumes, I was in silver with a red cowboy hat (Wild West theme for spec that year, I think). This llama photo reminds me of that act.

17 May, 2007 01:03
Anonymous said...

On the Blue Show in the early 70s we had 24 white horses in the three ring liberty display [mostly Lippizanners]. A person asked Emprisario Trolle Rhodin, "Why do you have so many white horses in the circus?". His snide reply was, " Is there any other color for circus horses".

17 May, 2007 09:05
Anonymous said...

McKee was founded in 1922 in Vero Beach, Florida. It was an 80-acre tropical hammock and in 1929 it became McKee Jungle Gardens.

By the 1940's more than 100,000 tourists were visiting McKee Jungle Gardens each year, making it one of Florida's most popular attractions. In the early 1970's, attendance dwindled and the garden closed its doors in 1976.

The land was sold and all but 18 acres were developed. The remaining acreage sat vacant for twenty years. In 1994, the Indian River Land Trust launched a fund-raising campaign and successfully purchased the property on December 1, 1995.

Mc Kee Botanical Garden is doing very well in Vero Beach today.

17 May, 2007 15:24

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