[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 28, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF BEN BARKIN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. THOMAS M. BARRETT

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 28, 2001

  Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this 
opportunity to share my admiration for my longtime friend and 
constituent, Mr. Ben Barkin, who passed away recently at the age of 85.
  Ben Barkin is fondly remembered as the father of Milwaukee's Great 
Circus Parade. The parade features circus wagons from the Circus World 
Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, some more than one hundred years old. It 
celebrates America's history of the circus by recreating old-fashioned 
circus parades in an authentic manner, along a three-mile route through 
downtown Milwaukee.
  In 1963, Ben Barkin and Charles ``Chappie'' Fox organized Milwaukee's 
first Great Circus Parade. Ben convinced the Joseph Schlitz Brewing 
Company to be the parade's exclusive sponsor. In 1973, Schlitz was no 
longer able to sponsor the parade, and the parade shut down for twelve 
years, but in 1985, Ben was able to bring it back. The Great Circus 
Parade was made an annual event the following year, after Ben raised 
more than $900,000. Mr. Barkin retired as the chairman of the Great 
Circus Parade in 1995, but he remained its guiding light. His greatest 
accomplishment was promotion of the parade at a national level, and 
securing funding to keep the parade free to the public.
  The Great Circus Parade now brings in hundreds of thousands of 
visitors from all over the United States. It is also shown on 200 
public television stations nationwide and worldwide on the U.S. 
Information Agency's Worldnet System and the Armed Forces Television 
Network.
  A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article describing the 2000 Great Circus 
Parade captured the parade's magic for children of all ages. Seven-
year-old Terry Parks told the newspaper, ``I got to see a real lion, 
not something on TV.'' Sixty-two-year-old Richard Czaja said, ``I love 
the horses, and the wagons were unbelievable the way they restored them 
and kept them up.'' Circus Parade fans come to Milwaukee and camp out 
every year near the city's lakefront. The resulting tent city is 
affectionately known as Barkinville, and each year Mr. Barkin would go 
down and meet the people camping out for the parade.
  Throughout his life, Ben focused his endless energy to other things 
other than the Great Circus Parade. During World War II, Ben 
volunteered with the U.S. Treasury to sell war bonds, and he helped 
make Milwaukee the standard for war bond fund raising. He was invited 
to Washington to present the model that was soon adopted by the rest of 
the country. After the war he founded the nationally recognized public 
relations firm of Barkin, Herman, Solochek, and Paulsen. In 1970, he 
was named as the ``best publicist in the country'' by 100 of the 
nation's largest newspapers. That same year he helped Bud Selig bring 
the Brewers to Milwaukee.
  Ben Barkin was an advocate for civil rights by looking past religious 
and racial differences. He was the chairman of the B'nai B'rith Youth 
Commission, and spoke out advocating better race relations. He also 
supported religious causes, whether they were Catholic, Jewish, or 
Protestant. Ben was also a devoted husband to Shirley for more than 
fifty years, and a loving father to his son Coleman.
  On February 2, 2001, Wisconsin lost one of its greatest citizens, and 
children lost a friend. I ask my colleagues to join me in remembering 
this great American and in celebrating his life and his legacy.

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