- March 12, 2025
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Her amazing world was filled with music, and the applause of circus crowds.
And, yet, there was something Myakka City's Dagmar Mootz Beavers valued even more.
Quiet.
On a shining, late winter day, Sharyn "Sparky" Baxley, Kay Rosaire and Nancy Nallin stood outside the wooden home built by Beavers and her family, and pondered a question that needed to be answered by Beavers' closest friends.
Why would such an accomplished and successful entertainer, who could have lived anywhere, choose to remain on the "Center Ring Ranch" she had known as home since 1963, when she was 14 years old?
Rosaire, Dagmar's best friend since childhood, provided the answer.
"Listen to the sound," said Rosaire, her eyes scanning the pasture all around the home.
It was quiet. A little breeze provided a rustle through the trees and the intermittent call of birds in the distance were the only breaks in the silence.
"It is so beautiful here," Rosaire said. "There is no concrete. It is beautiful land."
Beavers lived on the property until her death on Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023. Rosaire, the owner of Big Cat Habitat in Sarasota, moved her RV to the property months before so that she and Nallin could look after her. During those final months, Beavers did what she could to fix anything around the house that needed it. She wasn't about to pass problems along to her friends.
"She didn't want to go into hospice," Baxley said. "She had seven or eight types of cancer, and they kept trying to fix her."
She was gone at 74.
In her will, she gave her property to Rosaire and Nallin.
"She left it to us to steward, protect, conserve," said Nallin, who explained that Beavers did not want the property sold to developers. "It is a few parcels, about 32 acres."
The three women also are doing their best to preserve Beavers' memory, along with her ideals.
Before her death, Beavers, who was born in Germany to circus performers Rudolf Mootz and Gerda Meyer, had talked about hosting a concert on the property. She loved her Myakka community and she, indeed, loved music. Rosaire said she wanted to put up a big tent on the property for the concert.
So in April 2024, a year after Beavers' death, the first Dag Fest was held at the Center Ring Ranch. Baxley, a musician, put together a solid lineup of local artists and billed the event as a way to honor Beavers.
The first event drew plenty of musicians, but fewer people than expected.
"We didn't get the word out," Rosaire said. "But we're building on it."
Baxley said they learned an important lesson the first year.
"We learned the cows shouldn't be here," she said.
Those driving cars through the front gate didn't always close it, and the cows were out. They plan on sending them to neighboring ranches for this year's event on March 22.
Also this year, Baxley is asking the question, "Who is Dagmar Beavers?" She hopes the annual concert helps to keep Beavers' memory alive and so she decided to share little tidbits of her life.
So who is Dagmar Beavers? No one is better to ask than Rosaire, an eighth generation circus performer who became childhood friends with Dagmar when Rosaire's family would go on vacations in the Sarasota area from Waterford, Pennsylvania. They seemed destined to be friends. Both were part of families that landed in the Circus Ring of Fame.
"All the circus people were here," Rosaire said of those early-life vacations to the Sarasota area. "Dagmar was an all-around performer. She did the lower wire (since the age of 6). She rode elephants. She was like a show girl, and she sang."
Consider that Dagmar has a photo in her home that was shot during the filming of "Jumbo" in 1962. She is sitting on Doris Day's lap. Rosaire, meanwhile, worked on a movie with Laurel and Hardy and during which she sat on Oliver Hardy's lap. However, she said Hardy was drinking Wild Turkey, which caused her to almost fall off. Yes, they were destined to be friends.
Rosaire became a world-renowned lion and tiger trainer and show performer. She became known as one of the few women in the world to put her head into a tiger's mouth. Dagmar, whose family adopted the show name of the The Pedrolas, even though they were German, was the girl on the elephant, and the beautiful singer. Her father, Rudolf, took the family to Mexico, where Dagmar was an enormous hit.
But her home always remained Myakka City.
"Why did she like me? I was just lucky, I guess," Rosaire said. "She was a most loyal friend, and stubborn as Hell. She was so fun, and when she showed up, everything was better. We were like sisters.
Eventually, Beavers became a regular performer at nightclubs and concert venues in downtown Sarasota and at O'Leary's. She played solo and with local bands such as "Hot Sauce" and "The Instigators," and later with her husband, Bill Beavers.
"She was like a hippy who didn't smoke pot," Rosaire said.
Being a musician led to a friendship with Baxley, who said those who attend Dag Fest will experience the healing nature of the land.
"Dagmar is still here," Baxley said.
"No, she is not," Rosaire said. "But her heart is here, and the land is here."
