Children’s entertainer Al Simmons encouraged by fundraiser after fire

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This article was published 18/02/2018 (3134 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba children’s entertainer Al Simmons has lost many of his unique homemade props after a fire raged through the “magic workshop” on his Anola property on the evening of Feb. 9, but an online fundraiser has already raised more than $11,000 to help him get his show back on the road.

Simmons told the Free Press he ran into the burning workshop three times to try to rescue as many of his props as he could.

“The things that I pulled out, they were close to the door. I knew where they were, I knew what they were, and the value they were for me, so I took a chance,” Simmons said.

“I was on the verge of going up in flames… (my jacket) was smouldering, and my hat was smoking.”

“I’m glad I quit when I did, but I do regret not going in and getting out a couple more prized things,” he said. “But we survived. No one got hurt. There’s a lot worse things going on in the world than what happened to me.”

Simmons made many of the pieces himself. He is known for using tin cans, straws, garden hoses, turkey basters and doorstoppers to make music, and he urges the audience to sing along during his performances.

One item Simmons was able to save from the blaze was his beloved bicycle-horse, “Ol’ Spoke,” which he described as “a labour of love that I’ve had for a long time.”

“When I talk about the things I saved, I start thinking about what I didn’t save, and it just breaks me up,” he said.

The destroyed items include a custom-made baritone horn with “three trumpets soldered to it and numerous bells and whistles,” said Simmons.

“I was able to play the 1812 Overture on it, complete with the simulated fireworks cannons and church bell parts.”

Folk singer Heather Bishop, a friend of Simmons, has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to replace the items. The funding target has been set for $20,000.

“We cannot replace those amazing works of art that he has brought us over the years, but we can show our love by sending him the money he needs to rebuild and continue exercising his genius in bringing us new belly laughs,” Bishop wrote on the fundraising webpage.

“Those lost thingaboppers will live on in our memories and you can’t burn down creativity,” wrote one commenter on the page. “Young and old everywhere will enjoy your new creations!”

An emotional Simmons said “it’s hard to explain” how the fundraiser makes him feel.

“It’s amazing what Heather Bishop has done to put that up for me,” he said.

The donations won’t allow him to recreate all his props, he added, since many of them were “flukes when I put them together” and others were unusual thift-store finds.

“But it’s just going to enable me to say, ‘No worries,'” he said. “I’m just going to pay money to get stuff that came easily before, and I’m going to have to get a tailor to help my wife with some of the costumes.”

“It’s comforting to know that there’s going to be money to help with this… It’s absolutely going to go towards costumes and props.”

Simmons has entertained children for decades. His album Celery Stalks at Midnight won Best Children’s Album in 1996. He has also won the Order of Manitoba.

Simmons is scheduled to perform with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on April 8. He said he and his wife are already “working steady, rebuilding.”

“Because I’ve got shows coming up, I’m booked right through until next spring,” he said.

“There’s nothing going to stop me, I’m just going to keep going.”