THE BALLOON MAN

The Circus is Coming! We've Got FREE Tickets!


 

By Evan Serpick
March 16th, 2012
Baltimore, MD--The highlight of my children's annual calendar comes next week, when the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus comes to town.

I had a chance to speak with Brian Crawford Scott who, at 25, is the third-youngest Ringmaster in Ringling Brothers' 141-year history. He says this year's show, called "Fully Charged" is all about energy in it's many forms.

There will be the regular displays of "animal power," with the elephants, tigers, and horses. There will be human power, highlighted by a Mongolian troupe of strongmen, who "twirl logs the size of telephone poles above their heads." There's a high-wire troupe from Morocco, and a group of acrobats from Russia who perform aboard a giant bicycle with aircraft carrier tires.

But the highlight, says Scott, is something called "The Human Fuse." "He loads himself into a giant crossbow, lights himself on fire, and then launches the length of the arena," says the Ringmaster. "It's like the human cannonball, except you can see the whole process—and he's on fire. It’s amazing to watch."

The circus comes to the 1st Mariner Arena next Wednesday, March 21st, with shows through April 1st. You can get tickets here. OR, you can hold off until Monday, because we're giving away a four-pack of tickets to the show of your choosing... To enter, please make sure you are a friend of Learning to Crawl on Facebook (button on the right side of the page), and leave a comment below with a funny story about your kid(s). I'll announce a winner around noon on Monday!

Good luck!