THE BALLOON MAN

All in the family
Circus Smirkus makes annual stop in Brattleboro this week

 

By JON POTTER / Reformer Staffreformer.com
from:  Brattleboro, VT Reformer
07/16/2012
Monday July 16, 2012
BRATTLEBORO -- What's better than running away to join the circus?
How about running away to join the circus and falling in love?
Ivan Hennessy and Allyson Wendt can tell you how great that is. The husband-and-wife duo met at Circus Smirkus a decade ago when both found themselves -- and each other -- working on Tent Crew. Their first date was about as romantic as it gets.
"Wine and chocolate in the big top in the rain in Newport, Rhode Island," recalled Wendt.
Married a few years later, the two lived in Chicago and then in Bellows Falls, before settling in Brattleboro. Wendt worked at Building Green and now at Stevens & Associates. She is on the board of Building a Better Brattleboro. Hennessy was a downtown business owner, operating a home beer brewing shop on High Street before it recently closed. With all the certainty of driving in a tent stake, they've put down roots here. They have a 2 1/2-year-old son, Blake; people have told them he is the first "My Parents Met at Smirkus" child.
Yes, it's fair to say Ivan and Allyson owe a lot to Circus Smirkus.
"It was certainly a special time. It's really the foundation of our marriage," said Wendt. "How does anyone look back on their early 20s when they met their mate?"
Needless to say, Hennessy and Wendt will be bringing Blake to the big top when Circus Smirkus rolls into town for its annual performances at the Vermont Agricultural Business Education Center to benefit KidsPLAYce. The shows are Wednesday and Thursday, July 18 and 19, at 2 and 7 p.m., each day.
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