Gilman History — The Forgotten Tradition of the Gilman Circus

It’s a chilly October afternoon. A spooky thrill fills the air. You sprint home after a long day of classes, excited for the night of costumes and candy ahead. But you won’t be trick-or-treating tonight. Instead, you’re heading back to campus for a night of fun and community. Where? — The Gilman Circus.

The Gilman Circus was a nearly century-long Halloween festival that, until mentioned in Randy Lou’s presidential election speech last Spring, fell into obscurity. The tradition was sparked in 1921, just two years after the architect of the New Deal visited campus and 24 years after the school’s founding. Held on October 29, the first circus held the dual purpose of keeping students “out of mischief” during Halloween and helping raise money for the new gym, which we now call the Old Gym. More of a fair than a traditional circus, the event was located in ‘the Cage’ (now the Arena) and featured food, games, and fun activities–such as a dunk tank. Prizes for these game booths, according to Mr. Thomas Lynn ‘71, included “mini rubber footballs and foam noodles.” According to May Holmes’ History of the Circus, “It was well attended and proved such a great success, it was proposed to make it an annual occasion at Halloween time.” Uniting the community, the circus brought together students, teachers, parents, and alumni. Mr. Bill Gamper ‘71 recalls, “It was a major community event, not only the Gilman community, but the greater north Baltimore community…even as an infant, I attended the circus.”

In the years that followed, the Circus continued to take place around Halloween. The 1935 Circus saw the addition of serving supper. In 1956, a booth was established that featured faculty partners’ craft work, an endeavor that was “greatly appreciated by the parents who heretofore had found little to interest them,” wrote Holmes. After a closure of the main dining hall for a school year, the traditional circus supper was discontinued and food stalls were added, which contained “every conceivable digestion tormentor as well as delectable treats such as oysters and crab cakes.” The most successful booth at the Circus was the traditional cake table. Run by the mothers of the form officers, it accounted for almost 10% of the earnings. Each class was also responsible for organizing its own booth. Mr. Lynn said, “A couple of those booths for our class were a pumpkin smashing booth and a ‘bull in a China shop’ booth.

Over the century, the circus also became a major fundraising event. In 1950, the experience raised $2,163 (almost $30,000 in today’s money). It was used to raise funds for scholarships, the Alumni Auditorium, the Gilman Pool, the Gilman Room and other classrooms, and the Gilman Fund, and by the late ‘60s, it was steadily earning around $10,000 per year. In the commotion, classes would engage in “spirited competition” for who could sell the most tickets, with the winning class earning a coveted extra day of winter break. When reflecting on his experience in the ticket-selling competition, Mr. Gamper said, “Our senior year, we were removed from the competition as we had dominated the annual rivalry for the coveted day off over Christmas/Winter Break. We were expected to lead all grades in their effort and help raise a record amount of revenue for the pool fund. If we did, we too would get the day off. We got the day off.”

The affair continued yearly until 1983, when, according to a September 1986 Gilman News article, it was canceled “because of increasing faculty and parental duties and a decrease in student enthusiasm.” Classes in the late ‘80s attempted to bring it back, but were unsuccessful. In the ‘90s, the circus did return, but at a much smaller scale; the 1999 Gilman Circus was able to raise $1,000 for the Donald Bentley Food Pantry. 

The Gilman Circus was once a staple of Gilman culture and fundraising, an evening of merriment and community-bonding, but has since become a tradition long forgotten. However, what has been left can always return. Would you support the revival of the Halloween-themed Gilman Circus?