So finally the big day arrived, last Friday (September 5), when the circus was coming to Brenham! We had no idea what to expect. Would there be a giant tent? Would there be three rings or just one big one? Would there be a midway? Would there be a strong man and a bearded lady? Hold on - I just described our family reunion. Back to the circus... I envisioned a small time circus like the one in one of my favorite movies, Big Fish.
So we pull up to the fairgrounds, where the circus would be held. No tent. I was immediately a little disappointed, but we did see an elephant with kids riding on it. I hoped it wasn't the only one. The ticket "gate" was a little stand that, had we been the dishonest type, we could have walked right around and gotten in free. There were no barricades or ropes or anything else except some caution tape laying on the ground that had obviously been trampled either by some kids or someone who IS the dishonest type. At the gate were three ladies, all wearing red polo shirts and all with very glittery stage makeup, complete with blue eyeshadow. It didn't occur to us until we went past the gate and saw other "vendors," also with stage makeup, that the booths were actually being run by the performers. Everyone pulls their weight. I can respect that.
The "midway" consisted of the aforementioned elephant ride, some circus ponies (which were never actually used in the circus, btw) that were giving rides, a moonwalk, inflatable slide and some concession booths selling such things as soda poured out of 2-liter bottles, snow cones, popcorn and Kayci's personal favorite - cotton candy. We walked around a little, took a photo of Kayci in front of an elephant, got her some blue cotton candy and then went into the arena to find some seats.
The circus was set up in three rings in the open-air fairgrounds rodeo arena. Luckily, it was a beautiful evening with a hint of fall in the air. Otherwise, it might have been a little uncomfortable. We sat almost dead center in front of the center ring, although at the top of the stands. Kayci tore immediately into her cotton candy. Noble was having a great time being outside.
Soon, the circus started. First up was an animal act. I was pleasantly surprised that there were no goats with stripes painted on masquerading as tigers, as I had skeptically suspected. They actually had real tigers, although they looked like they were WELL past their prime. Unlike some of the big cat acts that I've seen in the past, I never really got any sense of danger. The tigers sat up and rolled over, but never ONCE tried to eat the tamer. I guess you have to pay a lot more these days for that kind of action. Not that I would have wanted to explain that to Kayci... But my favorite part of the whole act was when the tamer went to light the ring of fire that the tigers were supposed to jump through. From somewhere in his stretchy pants, he produced a lighter and attempted not once, but TWICE to light the ring. Over the music and the sounds of all the kids in the stands slurping up their cotton candy, if you listened very closely, you could hear the sounds of tigers snickering.
Another on my list of highlights was seeing a herd of elephants dancing around the center ring. I was suddenly struck that you just don't see too many elephants in Brenham, Texas -and certainly not as close-up as we were watching them. Being the sick-minded freak that I am, I had to envision the movie scenario where elephants got loose and ran rampant through downtown. Now THAT I'd gladly pay $28 to see any day.
There was this sad little clown with a trained dog, as well as what I can only describe as some sort of quasi-acrobatic act. I was disappointed because I've seen the Sam Houston State cheerleaders do many of the same stunts and, in fact, better. What was supposed to pass as death-defying and sensational was in reality very basic basket tosses that we used to do when I was a cheerleader back in high school. Yawn. I seriously thought about suggesting that we leave at intermission. Then The Little Circus That Could earned the price of admission...
Two guys wearing what can only be described as the bottom portion of red and blue Superman outfits came out and stood, staring at the crowd. They were bare chested and - I have to be honest here - really chiseled. I made a mental note to go to the gym and then focused again on the Ambiguously Gay Duo. They moved in forced slow motion as they grabbed hands and began forcing themselves into acrobatic positions. It was nothing short of amazing the acrobatic poses these two guys were able to get into, and the strength and balance it must have taken to not only do this, but to do it in slow motion! VERY impressive. After every stunt, they would stop and look at the audience, almost waiting for a reaction. Actually, waiting for MORE of a reaction. Someone should have pulled them aside before the show and explained that crowds in Brenham only go freaking nuts for high school football and baseball games. But this was as close as they could muster without cheerleaders. It really was amazing, and I managed to get a shot of one of the stunts, along with the sunset.
During intermission, in which all the performers ran back out to the midway to sell concessions and give elephant rides again, I witnessed one of the slickest marketing ploys of all time. The announcer came on the loudspeaker toward the end of intermission and announced that they had "what they consider to be the official souvenir of the George Carden circus," an oversized coloring book featuring the acts of the circus. And a select number of the coloring books had a blue coupon at the front that was good for a toy from a table that seemed to magically appear all of a sudden at the front of the bleachers. And only lucky kid would win the GRAND prize - an inflatable Incredible Hulk on a stick. Ho-hum. Wake me up when intermission is over, will ya? Zzzzz...
BUT WAIT! The special coloring books were only THREE DOLLARS! And they would only be on sale for the next FIVE MINUTES. And that's the point when everyone seemed to lose their minds. I mean people went clean out of their skulls! Parents were shoving money into their kids hands and shoving them down the bleachers toward the guys with the books. Some adults were scrambling down front and pushing kids aside to get a book. Kristi sent Kayci down to get one to send to the Clarkson kids in Taiwan (I think that's just the excuse she used to get me to buy a coloring book since I had said no souvenirs). We saw her for awhile before she disappeared in a crowd of impatient, pushy adults. I went down to make sure she was alright and found her being pushed aside by adults who just HAD to have a coloring book. There was no sense of order. She was still holding up her little wad of money toward the coloring book vendor, waiting patiently for her turn that would never come. So I plucked her out of the crowd, did a little shoving of my own to a couple of adults who had pushed her aside, and got her a coloring book. There was no blue ticket in it, so no prize. The amazing thing was that the little "five minutes only" sale went on for almost 15 minutes. And to top it off, we got to see the official coloring book of the "Show Beautiful Circus."
The second half of the circus wasn't really much to speak of, so I'll spare you the details. It consisted of some juggling acts, another clown act and some more acrobat acts. The circus ended with seven motorcycles riding around inside a steel sphere. It was interesting because at one point one of the motorcycles stalled, causing the stunt to be started over.
At the end of the circus, we left feeling like we got our money's worth in entertainment. It was a slightly surreal experience, but we enjoyed our evening.
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