The Circus Comes to Madisonville Today
FROM: surfky.com
Casey Piscitelli, SurfKY Lead Reporter
Aug 28
MADISONVILLE, KY (8/28/12) - The 76th Carson and Barnes Circus will make a stop in Madisonville this evening during its 240-day, 18,500 mile tour through 20 states.
“The circus was founded in 1937 by my grandfather, father and my uncle,” said Barbara Miller-Byrd. “The original name was G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus. In the sixties, my father went into partnership with a man named Moore and changed the name to Carson & Barnes. He just liked the way it sounded.”
The show’s Brazilian-made big top stands 144 by 180 feet and 36 feet high, covering the 42-foot ring in which jugglers, flying trapeze performers, high wire walkers, clowns, and acrobats, will perform daring, dangerous, and comedic stunts. And, of course, there are the animals: Three Asian elephants, Isa, Libby, and Bunny; two camels; two llamas, Bandit and Oz; one alpaca, Bennie; one pygmy hippo, Kate; one Sicilian Donkey, Jach; one zebra, Diablo, one mini zebra, Zach; one “zonkey” or “ze-donk” (cross between a donkey and a zebra); six Appaloosa horses; eight Shetland Ponies; six pygmy goats; and 1,000 pounds of snakes, to be exact.
Curious visitors may even have access to the “show before the show”—the public is welcome, encouraged even, to visit the venue early to watch the circus set-up.
“Sometimes, if the kids come out in the morning, they remember that more than the performance,” said Byrd. “It gives you a lot of pride to see the little kids out here with their mouths wide open. They just can’t believe this whole little city is going up.”
Carson and Barnes takes pride in their care of and attention to the needs of their animals. “The animals are the heart and soul of the circus experience and circus folks know that,” reads a media release. “The animals come first.”
To that end, the timing of the circus’s visit to Madisonville is no accident. To ensure the animals’ comfort during the grueling circuit, they visit southern states in the winter, travelling north as weather heats-up, arriving in the Midwest in July and August.
“We have three elephants traveling with us,” said Byrd. “We actually own twenty-nine, but we have a large breeding compound in Hugo called the Endangered Ark Foundation, and we leave the elephants of breeding age at home. We have the second largest genetic pool for Asian elephants in the country. We want to do our share to see the species doesn’t die off.”
The circus will take place this evening, Tuesday, August 28, at the Hopkins County Fairgrounds and Convention Center in Madisonville at 605 West Arch Street. There will be two shows at 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM.
Byrd says the circus offers visitors “everything they expect to see in a tented circus. It’s one of the only forms of entertainment that has never been censored. You can bring your seventy-eight-year-old mother or your seven-year-old and know they won’t see anything that is embarrassing.”
“Sometimes, if the kids come out in the morning, they remember that more than the performance,” said Byrd. “It gives you a lot of pride to see the little kids out here with their mouths wide open. They just can’t believe this whole little city is going up.”
Carson and Barnes takes pride in their care of and attention to the needs of their animals. “The animals are the heart and soul of the circus experience and circus folks know that,” reads a media release. “The animals come first.”
To that end, the timing of the circus’s visit to Madisonville is no accident. To ensure the animals’ comfort during the grueling circuit, they visit southern states in the winter, travelling north as weather heats-up, arriving in the Midwest in July and August.
“We have three elephants traveling with us,” said Byrd. “We actually own twenty-nine, but we have a large breeding compound in Hugo called the Endangered Ark Foundation, and we leave the elephants of breeding age at home. We have the second largest genetic pool for Asian elephants in the country. We want to do our share to see the species doesn’t die off.”
The circus will take place this evening, Tuesday, August 28, at the Hopkins County Fairgrounds and Convention Center in Madisonville at 605 West Arch Street. There will be two shows at 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM.
Byrd says the circus offers visitors “everything they expect to see in a tented circus. It’s one of the only forms of entertainment that has never been censored. You can bring your seventy-eight-year-old mother or your seven-year-old and know they won’t see anything that is embarrassing.”
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