And I do mean a real circus, as opposed to the one the Wife and I run on a daily basis. I’ll simply refer to it as the B&B Circus and I assume that the reader can figure it out from there. Of course, B&B might quibble with that, given the number of times they informed the audience we were watching “The Greatest Show on Earth!” I still have some of the tunes bouncing around my head this morning- something about “fire it up,” or maybe it was “power it up.”
They did say “the show” was great, just not the songs.
We didn’t tell the kids what they were being taken to. I did give them a hint that it had “3 Rings” and the boy guessed Target, which was somewhat clever but incorrect. Before I offered it, I wasn’t sure if they’d ever heard the phrase “3 Ring Circus”- but I know they have now. Even after we arrived at the Convention Center, they still weren’t completely sure what they were in for.
Then the lass saw the elephants and she was completely on board. The place was lined with vendors selling all sorts of overpriced junk. The tickets were actually pretty cheap. The overpriced merchandise explained that. The cotton candy cost $12 a piece and neither kid liked it. Ultimately, I’m OK with that, but being out $24 like that definitely stings. At least they liked the hats that came with it.
So what constituted “The Greatest Show on Earth!”? Mostly what one expects from a circus: a ring master, clowns, horses, clowns, acrobats, tigers, clowns, elephants, trapeze artists, clowns, stilt walkers (both power and traditional- the one guy had to be walking on 15′ stilts), clowns, a high-wire act, swinging-while-wrapped-in-curtains type acrobatics, guys walking on large pendulum type apparatus, and clowns.
Did I mention there were clowns?
The boy’s favorite moment was a clown act where one of the clowns got run over by a large bike with 6-foot inner-tubes for tires. The lass’ favorite part was the elephants. The Wife’s favorite part was the swinging-while-wrapped-in-curtains act, and my favorite part was the kids discovering they hated cotton candy after we shelled out $24 for it.
Alright, more seriously my favorite was the guys walking on the large pendulum-like apparatus. Balance, athleticism, jumping rope and a bunch of near falls from 30 feet in the air- what more can you ask for from an act?
Speaking of which- there were a number of gaffes by the performers over the course of the night like jugglers dropping rings or bats and missteps by the afore mentioned almost-missteps by the pendulum-walkers. At first I thought they were deliberate. But afterwards I changed my mind- they were legitimate and perhaps added a bit more authenticity to the whole act. These were all highly practiced performers, but they weren’t perfect and that was OK.
Somewhat surprisingly, my least favorite part was the tiger act. While I’m no expert in tiger body language, they just seemed off. These tigers weren’t the majestic creatures I imagine in my mind, though they definitely had pride- it just seemed to be squelched by the trainer. That’s probably necessary so the trainer doesn’t become lunch, but still it was off-putting for me. Who knew I was such a bleeding heart?
The upshot is the kids thoroughly enjoyed the evening. They made it through the whole evening- a good +2 1/2 hours. They didn’t get cranky or bored the whole night. The laughed at the clowns antics, even cheered at the appropriate points and occasionally participated in the clap-alongs. Our night at the circus was a night well spent.
The money on the cotton candy not withstanding.