I am not a circus person. Not big on clowns or elephants or cotton candy or trapeze artists or any of that circusy stuff. In fact, after my first visit to a circus some 42 years ago with my Kindergarten class, it would be decades before seeing another in 1990 and then another in 2001. They really weren’t that memorable either. Then finally, yesterday, at the (often) convincing urging of friend Kim, I decided to forget my growing financial issues for an afternoon, celebrate my recent promotion and take the wife, the boy and Kim to the Circus! And I liked it!
The weird part for me is that it was at the Cincinnati Gardens, the exact same venue where I had seen my very first circus back in 1965! This time, I was even more impressed when I realized that the Beatles had appeared there in ’64!
There were smiling and dancing elephants, a ten year old girl who flew through the air, motorcycle stunt riders, beautiful horses, a clown selling invisible balloons in the stands, sleek tigers and a human cannonball. In fact, I envisioned the Cannonball guy sleeping til mid-afternoon, coming out, checking the net, being fired into the net, collecting a check for a couple thou and then heading out to catch a movie. Must be nice.
Anyway, a check of Yahoo shows that this particular circus has been regularly cited for its mistreatment of animals. I believe Ringling Brothers has, too. I hope the charges are exaggerated or at least in the past because what I saw yesterday was the sheer magical delight on the faces of several thousand children --of all ages as they say--including my lovely wife, my precious Bookdave, my sweet friend Kim and yes, myself. I even had some cotton candy!
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