As another 50th State Fair approaches,
By Tim Ryan
Rose Fernandez reflects on
her days with E.K.
Star-BulletinShe was 15 years old and a tight-wire walker from Illinois. He was 30, and an entertainment entrepreneur from Hawaii. She had never dated. He had been married.
Edwin Kane "E.K." Fernandez, Hawaii's undisputed king of carnivals and state fairs, wanted the islands to be entertained by the best performers in the United States, whether it was a dancing bear, matadors in a bloodless bull fight or child tight-wire walkers.
So Rose Dallas Allen, her sister Margaret, mother Helen, and stepfather were brought to Honolulu from California in 1927 for a three-week stint that turned into a year as they traveled through the islands, singing and dancing, performing acrobatics, and, of course, walking the tight wire.
E.K. Fernandez Shows
In 1936, circus performers lined up for a cast photograph
on Kauai. Edwin Kane Fernandez brought
the first circus acts to Hawaii.
"E.K. was always on the look for new acts," said Rose Fernandez, 86, in a telephone interview from her home in Princeville, Kauai. "He had heard about my sister and me at the Pomona Fair and called my father to get us to Hawaii."Though E.K. died 27 years ago in 1970 -- just shy of 87 -- the memory of the man she eventually married remains deep in Rose's mind.
"He had a tremendous personality and drive," she said. "He always knew exactly what he wanted to do and what he needed to do to get it. People in Hawaii never realized that what he brought here was the best in the world."
And once again it is E.K. Fernandez providing the entertainment, food and games for the Honolulu Jaycees 50th State Fair at Aloha Stadium starting Friday.
Though Rose stopped performing more than a half century ago, just being married to E.K. meant "you never left show business."
"I spent 40 years on that midway," she said. "We always had show business people around us."
Rose and her sister learned to tight-wire walk at the urging of her stepfather, who put up a wire across the family's back fence and offered an ice cream cone to the first one who finished. Her mother Helen learned to become an acrobat after having five children.
"We always heard about how well E.K. treated his performers," Rose said. "So when we got the offer to come to Hawaii we jumped at the chance.
E.K. Fernandez Shows
"To him the show was the thing no matter the cost and
sometimes it cost him a fortune," Rose Fernandez says
of her husband, E.K. Getting elephants and horses
to Kauai, for example, wasn't cheap.
"He was generous of his time and money. To him the show was the thing no matter the cost and sometimes it cost him a fortune. You know he did all the 'firsts' here."This P.T. Barnum of the Pacific reportedly was the first to bring an ice show, elephant, circus, rodeo and a "bloodless" bull fight to Hawaii. But there also were some mishaps.
A rodeo E.K. brought to Hilo was held in an enclosed area surrounded by a high wall, but he didn't realize that the buildings surrounding the corral could be used by spectators not wanting to buy tickets.
"I still have a picture showing all the people on the roofs looking in," she said, laughing.
While presenting the circus in Hilo, a seal decided to go for a swim in the Pacific and not return. The next morning, with the seal still absent, the equipment and other animals were loaded onto a barge for Honolulu.
"Several days later when we were setting up in Kapiolani Park for the circus opening, some boy noticed a seal lying on some rocks nearby. It was the one who had escaped. It never missed a show!"
Then there was the time in Hawi on the Big Island when four lions escaped. Rose was six months pregnant with her son, Kane.
"I was working in the eating wagon where we had just gotten a large load of uncooked hot dogs," she said. "I was starting to put them in the freezer when a woman working with me said 'Don't move, the lions are out.' "
And there they were, not 40 feet away. The woman bolted out of the wagon to safety.
"I was afraid the lions were going to start smelling those hot dogs and come after them and me so I panicked and ran toward the plantation store."
The panic gave Rose, despite her advanced pregnancy, the energy to leap over a ditch, and run into the store, yelling a warning. Eventually, the circus workers putting together the Ferris wheel got the lions back to their cage.
E.K. Fernandez founded his company in 1903. He had planned to go into the photo supply business, showing movies as a sideline. The films were so popular, according to son Kane, that he started charging admission.
When he realized that movie theaters were too hot for most audiences, he ventured into live entertainment in tents. It was in 1915 that E.K. brought the first circus to Hawaii with 20 performers and six animals.
"In those days there were no Whitney Houston or Michael Jackson shows coming through town and a trained bear was a big deal," son Kane said.
E.K. Fernandez Shows
The 1936 E.K. Fernandez circus on Kauai.
In 1928, Rose and her family returned to California where the girls' popularity grew dramatically. The next year, when she was 17, her father received a cable from E.K. inviting them back. E.K. even traveled to California to convince them to come."He followed me around and asked when I was going to marry him," Rose said. "I laughed at his proposal and, boy, was he insulted.
"But I never had any boyfriends. I wasn't even allowed to fraternize with the other acts. I didn't think he was serious, but I sure was enjoying all the attention."
It was after E.K. had returned to Hawaii that Rose realized she was in love with him. She sailed to the islands on the Lurline and was met by E.K. in pure E.K. style: hula dancers, Hawaiian musicians and "lots of leis."
"We were married that day."
Today, E.K. Fernandez is a multimillion-dollar business with as many as 60 full-time employees, more than 200 part-time workers, 26 amusement rides and 18 events annually.
"My dad loved the business because it brought so much joy to people and he loved the challenge of trying to constantly entertain," Kane said.
"He was an original," Rose said. "And he was mine."
50th State Fair
Place: Aloha Stadium
4-11 years, $1.50; under 3, free
