Circus gone wrong....

Well, we took the kids to their first real circus yesterday afternoon - what a weird adventure. We went to the Cole Bros Circus (how ironic) under a big tent in the parking lot of a local mall.


Tickets were cheap so thought it would be an inexpensive fun thing to do. I was half right. Considering that we had about 3 inches of rain the day/night before, it was a bit muddy, to say the least. Nonetheless, much to my husbands dismay, we went to check it out. As we walked in, we had to pick up our tickets at will call. I should have known what was ahead when the guy at the ticket booth was waving 2 (yes, only two) sets of will call tickets with names on them - one was ours, and one someone elses. Chuck looked at me with a weird look and we kept walking.

I have a terrible scary childhood memory of the circus so I was a little reluctant to begin with. As we walked it, that same creepy feeling I always had, was still there. The tent was fairly dark and there was only one light in the corner that was shining on whichever end of the tent had something going on in it. We were a little late so when we got there we had missed the elephant show but walked in during one of the clown skits. Doesn't it make you wonder who those clowns are in real life? They must do some serious mind altering "activities" to do what they do, day in and day out. We were up so close (because there were probably only about 40 people there) that we could see their worn, ripped costumes.

Shortly after the clown skit, they set up for the trapeeze company (this entailed about 20 non-american people running around like crazy people trying to get things in place). They did about 15 minutes worth of trapeezing; 4 out of 5 tricks they missed and fell into the nets. Rolando was the star trapeeze artist - I think he's destined to hang up his tights and find another profession. Oh well, I give them credit for trying - especially with the shabby equipment they were using.

On to the next act, which was a dog and pony show - literally. The dog trainer was totally wacked out on drugs and had this bag lady looking costume on. Her dogs were so mangely looking and decked out in costumes. Poor animals. I couldn't even take photos because it was so bad. Here's a picture of the emcee for the night - I guess you would call her the hostess?

Next on were the girls in leotards that hang by their hair. They got things set up and started to connect themselves to their hanging apparatus.

As this was happening and they were starting to rise, I look over to the other end of the tent and there are about 20 guys on a line, pulling with all of their might, on the other end of a pulley system. I then realize that they are pulling up these performers on the pulleys. Nothing like good old fashioned manpower to make things work. I've never seen such a thing - It was then that I realized that we are at the low budget circus and my creepy factor was well warranted.


After about 45 minutes, and just as the kids started to lose interest and get fidgety, it was over. We then saw the "end of circus parade", including the shabby looking elephants & camels which we missed in the beginning. Is it normal to have camels at a circus?

After we walked out, we promised not to do that again. And C made me promise never to give our kids a ride on a circus elephant - anywhere.

After this experience, it's worth it to pay more for the Ringling Bros circus. The good thing is, the kids didn't know the difference. By the time we got home, they were still in good spirits.