Monday evening Doug and I took the kids to the circus. Not the kind of circus you are probably thinking of, in a big tent with clowns, lions, tigers and fire-eaters. This was more of an upstate NY kind of circus. Charming and maybe a little bit lame, but in a very sweet way. It was held in the high school's gymnasium (our first clue), a round "stage" with a curtained changing area behind it. The announcer had the best voice ever-he could have totally been a game show host at some point and he sure had his act down. He was perfect!The first act involved a unicyclist, his wife and their 6 year old son. The mom in me couldn't really encourage the part where the father put his son on his shoulder's while on a 10 foot high unicyle. But I did take a picture:
Next up was the human slinky:
Then the sexy and very talented hula hoop artist:
(By the way, don't let me forget to to tell you all about my hula hoop story in Vermont. Unfortunately, it does NOT involve me being sexy:)) Then a trampoline gag. A homeless looking fellow sets up the trampoline and has all kinds of trouble setting it up, then, big surprise! can do ten back flips in a row on it. Here is one:
Spiderman was next. He did some aerial tricks and definitely could have saved us all from the bad guys, if necessary.
He was also available for photos during the intermission that followed. Mostly the little kids posed but my smart alecky kids had to get involved and here they are, with a friend, posing with Spiderman, for a $15 Polaroid:
After the intermission, a lovely lady foot juggler came out and performed many death defying tricks:
Just kidding. However, the last trick did involve fire:
A glamorous trapeze artist performed next. Alas, we were off to the side so I couldn't get any good shots of her performance, which was up high and behind the light stand.
The grand finale was BMX star Brett Marshall:
Oh the tricks, the flips, the rolls, the rocking music, the heart pounding suspense of the last stunt of the evening:
A homemade addition! A 360 degree ride on a bike! With holographic foil!But really the best part was this:
All the performers worked selling balloons, popcorn, cotton candy, inflatable cats and lighted swords. The kids got a big kick out of their double duty and I was reminded of the Scooby-doo episode at the deserted amusement park where one guy does everything-take tickets, run the rides, etc.)
The announcer was singing a goodbye song in his perfect voice as we left. It rang in our ears for hours. A good time was had by all, mommy and daddy parted with much money and Billy Martin's Cole All Star Circus will move on to the next small town's high school gym floor.
3 comments:
Tracy -
Once again, you never fail to keep your fans deeply amused, whether it is the spectacle of super-human feats mid air, or the trickle down factor of low budget circus vendoring. I love 'the roar of the grease paint or the smell of the crowd' you fill us with.
Thanks for your continuous creative 'feeds,' as you are endlessly amusing, very strikingly honest and mostly, hilarious.
Oh, btw, your work continues to be stupendous.
Best, Nina
Hi Nina, I was starting to wonder if anyone was going to notice this funny little post! I am glad you enjoyed it-I loved writing about our experience at the circus! Oh and thanks for the compliment about my work, I appreciate it.
Hi Tracy,
I’m a new reader, but an old veteran of Billy Martin’s All Star Circus. My youngest is 17, so it’s been a while since we’ve gone, but we had about 8 years when we never missed them on their run through western NY. Your pictures were great, really capturing it. We always went, expecting much less than it turned out to be. A great family memory. I hope the same for you and your bunch.
Best,
Richard
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