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The end of the summer is almost here and to help the kids get ready for school, Central Park's Family Carnival will be on Aug. 18.
Starting at 6 p.m., there are plenty of attractions for the kids this year. Among them will be carnival games, a moonwalk, an inflatable obstacle course, a showing of "A Bug's Life" and the world's strongest juggler, Bob Whitcomb.
"It's a great community type of thing," said Parks Department marketing coordinator David Hoffert about the carnival.
Also featured will be North Manchester resident Jonie Cripe and her JoJu Animal Entertainment.
Cripe, 42, is an animal trainer and performer and takes her menagerie all over the area within a 100-mile radius to put on shows and delight children with her petting zoo.
"Training is my specialty," said Cripe. Performing with animals has been a goal most of her life.
Cripe uses her animals for all sorts of activities. She gives pony and llama rides, which she calls "Ponies by Jonie." Her petting zoo consists of rabbits, guinea pigs, miniature chickens and a few exotic animals like a prairie dog, chinchilla and hedgehog. Her larger animals include miniature donkeys, a hair sheep, a fainting goat and a potbellied pig.
There are two performing animals - a miniature horse and a pig - and a special program Cripe calls "Animal-gram."
Animal-grams are used for birthdays, anniversaries and other special days. Cripe brings her performing pig and miniature horse to help celebrate special days like these.
"Passion" is the pig, a 500-pound farm pig, not a potbellied pig, or, as Cripe laughingly called her, "a full sized hog." Passion, dresses in a tutu and plays a piano. She also does fund-raising with a "kiss the pig" event.
Passion has an apprentice, too, what Cripe calls "pig-in-training" or "PIT." Her name is "Fantasy."
"Calliope," the miniature horse, gives kisses, smiles and drinks from a bottle.
Cripe has done animal-grams for 16 years but she she started her animal business with pony rides more than 20 years ago. She started with a dog, a sheep, a pig and a miniature horse.
Now she has everything from the prairie dog to a pet black bear. The bear, "Jamboree," did commercials and traveled to cities like New York and Chicago. Now she is retired and is a pampered pet. Cripe even had a pet lion for a while.
Cripe also does "Pony by Jonie" birthday parties. This is a special package that consists of Cripe bringing her ponies to birthday parties, along with Calliope, for pony rides and a performance.
When the animals aren't working they "lead lives of luxury," said Cripe. Her husband, Philip, is a farmer, which makes Cripe's home in North Manchester well suited for such a large menagerie. Her husband is very supportive of Cripe's business.
Cripe is also the mother of five children who help their mother with the animals. According to Cripe, they love to help and are very comfortable around the animals.
"They don't really know any different," said Cripe.
As much as Cripe loves her business she does warn that it requires a lot of hard work. Everything in her business is legal. She has the required federal license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an inspector goes out to her farm regularly.
Cripe also pointed out that she is not in this business to exploit animals.
"I got them because I love them," Cripe said. "Not because I want to show them off."
