Fun at the Big Top
The Circus Comes to Town
By Daniel Muniz

When taking my toddler to the circus, I realized that I hadn’t gone to such an event since I was a kid. I remembered going to the circus as a youngster and I remember having a good time but I also figured it probably wouldn’t be much entertainment for me as an adult twenty years later.

I was definitely wrong!

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus were coming to town and my wife insisted that we take our son to see the show. He was less than a year old at the time but my wife thought he might enjoy the colorful spectacle of a circus. It would also be a nice family event since my in-laws were going with us and that would have been one of the first big events that they would have with their only grandchild (at the time).

And my wife also likes taking pictures of our son so the experience would probably make for a lot of fond memories.

We were actually living with her parents during that time frame. During the construction of our current house, we had sold our previous home and then moved in with my in-laws for a few months until our new house was finished. And unlike many of the prevalent in-law horror stories that lots of people experience, I actually had a great time living with them, especially with my wife’s father.

However, our family had also grown to include three dogs along with our toddler son. My in-laws likewise had two dogs of their own. As a result, living space was at a premium at my in-law’s house so everyone was looking forward to the circus as a nice fun diversion.

I am not a sour person but I suppose that I had developed a cynical viewpoint towards circus acts. I simply equated them as just being an extension of a carnival.
 

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Walt Disney himself made a few fateful visits to carnivals and walked away disgusted. He felt that such venues were “dirty, phony places run by tough looking people.” Incidentally, quite a few people agreed with him.

And it was out of those experiences that became the inspiration for Disney to embark on the decision to create the clean resplendent amusement parks of Disney Land and Disney World that would be run by professionals. In essence, Disney’s amusement parks would be the opposite of carnivals.

I imagine that perhaps I felt the same way about the circus especially since I hadn’t gone to one in over two decades. I simply imagined that it would be filled with plenty of cheesy carnival acts with a lot of “tough looking people” running it. Consequently, the circus experience was intended to be more for my son and his grandparents so I assumed that I probably wouldn’t enjoy it very much.

But I couldn’t have been more wrong. The entire event was clean and very entertaining. And all the events were professionally organized and very well choreographed.

The experience of taking my son also rekindled some of the memories and magic of when I was a kid. And to my surprise, many of the circus acts themselves were also very much for the delight of adult audiences.

The clowns were creative and hilarious. They constantly pulled out very funny and amusing comedy routines that had me laughing throughout the entire show.

And I was also surprised at how my palms sweated and how I tensed up during the trapeze and high flying acts. I may have been wide-eyed as a kid but I was more bewildered as an adult. Not because of the thrill but rather that these people were risking their own hides to create such daredevil stunts. As a kid I probably never thought twice that such performances were dangerous but as an adult, I felt that this was one heck of a way to make a living.

Somehow, I began to realize that the potential of someone getting splattered by one false move was really more of an adult venue of entertainment rather than for the fascination of children. And I suppose that daredevil stunts have been a staple of American entertainment for generations although our tastes have become more refined and sophisticated. People just like a good thrill so I imagine that circuses will always be popular.

And what I personally felt that was the most entertaining skit of the circus was this living room set that they had at the top of the center ring. It was set upside down and the clowns performed their entire comedy routine while standing upside down. And it was hilarious and I was amazed during the entire skit.

Overall, I had to admit that I had a lot of fun and that the entire event was nothing of what I expected.

In the past, the circus was never intended to be solely an audience for kids but that is what the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus evolved into. There is still plenty of entertainment for adults to enjoy and perhaps that is how the Circus Soleil came into being. I am glad that the circus came to town and I am glad that I got to see it.

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