Greg Lewis can still remember the excitement he felt, can still recall the sense of utter amazement that washed over him.
As a kid growing up in Pottsville in the mid-1960s he had been inside movie theaters, he had watched shows on TV and listened to the radio.
But that kind of entertainment was nothing compared to what he discovered inside the Rajah Theatre on North Sixth Street in Reading, now the Santander Performing Arts Center.
He had a friend whose dad was a member of the Rajah Shrine and was lucky enough to tag along on a trip south to check out the Rajah Shrine Circus.
Sitting in the crowd, watching the animals and performers take the stage, was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Years later he would join the Rajah Shrine himself, getting a chance to play a role in putting on the annual event. He also got a chance to share the magic of the circus with his children and grandchildren.
“The circus meant an awful lot to me, the heritage of it,” he said. “I took my son and daughter, I took my grandkids. It’s generational for us. There aren’t too many events that you can say are generational.”
Future generations, however, will not get a chance to share the experience of the Rajah Shrine Circus. On Tuesday, the Rajah Shrine Board of Directors announced that the curtain is closing on the long-running event.
The circus, which was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, has now been canceled for good.
The event, which is produced by Hamid Circus Inc., was slated to run from March 9 through March 13 at the Hamburg Field House.
Rajah Shrine Potentate Joseph Hagan Sr. said health and safety concerns and an overall move away from circuses as popular entertainment led to the decision.
“I hate to see it go, but circuses are fading,” he said, citing the closure of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 2017.
Lewis, who serves as director of communications for the Rajah Shrine, said the group is looking for an entertainment event to replace the circus but has not yet come up with a plan.
“We’re not out of show business, just the circus business,” he said.
Six decades of tradition
The Rajah Shrine Circus got its start in 1961.
It was initially held each March at the Rajah Theatre in Reading, with a second location at Muhlenberg College in Allentown added from 1974 to 1995. The two shows ran on back-to-back weeks.
Needing more room for the performers and animals, the events were moved to the Hamburg Field House and the Stabler Arena in Bethlehem. The Bethlehem show was discontinued in 2006.
The Berks version temporarily was moved to Reading’s Santander Arena but found its way back to the Hamburg Field House in 2006.
Since 2010, the circus has featured a total of eight shows over five days each year.
Bringing smiles and laughs
Lewis said that over all those years and through all those moves, one thing never changed.
“The reaction of the people on the way out,” he said. “People come out raving about a bicycle performer or something. Just seeing the smiling faces — and not just the kids, but the adults, too.”
A few years back, Lewis said, he came across a family leaving one of the Hamburg shows. The parents were in their late 20s or early 30s.
“They said it was the first circus they’d even seen,” Lewis recalled. “They were so excited.”
Hagan has similar memories about the joy the circus brought to those who visited it. In particular he recalls the annual Friday morning kids show where students were bused in from all around the county.
“They really liked it,” he said. “They clapped, they yelled, they screamed. They had a really good time.”
As for himself, Hagan said he always enjoyed the animal acts — in particular the massive, lumbering elephants. Well, at least watching them, that is.
Hard and fun work
As a member of the Rajah Shrine since 1982, Hagan has often found himself over the years helping to put on the show. And he’s well aware of the pitfalls of working with live animals.
When the circus was held at the Rajah, he said, the animals were kept in a garage across an alley from the theater.
“When they left it was almost unbearable to go in there, the stink,” he said with a laugh.
But that, and the hard work putting on a circus entails, was well worth it, Hagan said.
“I remember that it was a lot of hustle and bustle, getting the animals and the acts, the performers, on and off the stage,” he said. “It was hectic, but everybody had a good time.”
Lewis said he got a lot of joy out of helping to put on the annual circus.
“I can remember standing in front of the marquee, I’d take off work that Friday morning to help with the kids show,” he said. “I’d stand there and help get the kids off the bus. It was a thrill to watch, to see the children entertained.
“It’s hard to say how many thousands of people have been entertained over the past six decades.”
Lewis said he has on occasion had a chance to actually perform at the circus. He said he’s a member of the Rajah Shrine’s clown brigade and has been able to entertain crowds by blowing up balloons in costume.
“It’s very heartwarming when a kid comes up to you as a clown and you interact with them on a positive note,” he said.
The final curtain
The Rajah Shrine Circus has brought a lot of smiles and laughs to a lot of people, Hagan said.
“It has meant a lot of joy for a lot of young people in the area who would not otherwise get to see a circus,” he said.
That’s something he said he has a lot of pride in having a hand in. And it’s something he’s sad to see end.
He’s not alone in feeling that way.
Lewis said that when the announcement was made at a recent Rajah Shrine meeting the news was met with pained groans.
“It was like deflating a balloon,” he said. “It’s a shame, it really is. We’re heartbroken to have to say that’s the end of it.”
