Circus in town, and this one's a family affair
Friday, March 19, 2010
By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING – There's an old saying in circus circles – once you get under that big top, you get sawdust in your blood.
It happened to Kristin Parra, who got hooked on the circus for life. It happened to her parents, too. And her grandparents, as well as her great-grandparents.
For nearly 75 years, members of Parra's family have operated the Carson & Barnes Circus, which features scores of animals, as well as jugglers, acrobats, clowns and a flying trapeze. The menagerie will perform several shows in Dallas-Fort Worth during the next few weeks, starting today in Irving.
About 15 of Parra's relatives are among the 125 people who travel with the circus.
For Parra, 34, circus life is the only life she knows. She joined the circus when she was just 2 weeks old.
"I love that we go into a town and families can come out and forget about their worries and stresses," Parra said. "Knowing that my family is bringing their family together and it's something they can remember forever – that, right there, is why we do it."
Not everyone in the circus is related, but they all feel like family, Parra said. There's always someone to help watch over the children, who are tutored on the road.
"We come together not only to celebrate good things – births of babies and weddings and birthdays – but we come together in times of need, if someone passes away," she said.
The family also includes about 100 animals, from a zonkey (half-zebra, half-donkey) to a zebu (a cow-like creature).
And don't forget the elephants, those old circus standards.
Parra started riding an elephant when she was a kid.
"When you have elephants in your backyard, you kind of lose that sense of fear of them and you gain a sense of respect," she said.
All these years later, she's still in awe of them.
"You acquire a love for them," she said. "I've been with them when we had one born. You cry when you lose one. You're up with them when they're sick."
Animal rights groups regularly criticize circuses, but Carson & Barnes officials say they are proud of the way they treat their animals.
There's more to the circus than a show featuring animals and daredevils. In fact, performing is the easy part, Parra said.
It takes dozens of semis and trucks to keep the circus moving through about 200 cities from Florida to Colorado over the next nine months.
This week, the circus rolled into the Irving Mall parking lot and set up shop.
The animals were still on the road Thursday morning, so crews secured the 47-foot-tall red, white and blue tent, topped with American flags. They hauled in trucks loaded with bleachers. Nearby, workers popped in and out of their RVs, while children rode around on scooters.
Carson & Barnes started in 1937 when Parra's great-grandfather launched a small circus in Kansas with his two sons. The family eventually settled in Hugo, Okla., which calls itself Circus City, USA, and is home to three traveling circuses.
Parra's mother, Barbara Byrd, has been part of the circus since she was a baby. At 63, Byrd doesn't see retirement in her future. Her parents both worked at the circus into their 80s. Her father died on circus grounds, and her grandfather died just a couple of weeks after returning home from another circus season.
Byrd keeps working at the circus so a family tradition stays alive. So children can be entertained. And so she can enjoy the circus's close-knit community, a group that takes care of each other and worships and eats together. The work, however, is physically and mentally exhausting.
"Take a few sunny days and full audiences and you get rejuvenated," Byrd said.
Parra has taken breaks from circus life to attend high school in Oklahoma and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. But when she was done with school, she was back on tour full time. Circus life has allowed Parra to travel all over the country while spending more time with her family.
There was no parental pressure to stay with the circus, she said.
"We chose to do this," she said. "It was never something that was forced on us."
Now the sawdust has crept into the veins of the next generation of family members. Parra's children join her on the road, helping to keep the circus running.
Parra hopes the family continues to entertain for years to come.
"There's an empty field, and you go in and three hours later, there's a tent and you're ready to perform," she said. "And then you can enjoy a show.
"That's the magic of the circus."
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Daily Times pictures
Jonathan Lee Iverson is Ringling Bros. first African American ringmaster from New York
Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson leaves with some lunch from the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Pie Car parked in a train yard in Newark, NJ.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson, poses before the show at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson, entertains the crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. 
Midi Discovery, a giant pendulum that swings riders 60 feet in the air.
The Electro-Spin, where individual cars spin while coasting along a 50-foot-high track.
Coney Island is slated for two new amusement parks and 23 new rides - including roller coasters, a human slingshot, and go-karts. The park, set to open Memorial Day weekend, will have a grand entranceway festooned with crescent moons, just like the one that drew thousands of visitors for the first half of the 20th century before it burned down in 1944.
The Speedy Coaster, a gravity coaster with family-sized coaster cars.
The Surf's Up, where riders balance on a surfboard and ride a 90-foot wave.
Up to 24 passengers get "blown away" on the Beach Shack.
The Star Family Circus comes to the Fairfield County Fairgrounds on Monday to perform for local residents. Two action packed evenings, Monday and Tuesday, included ariel acrobatics, animal performances and other feats during the show. (Eagle-Gazette file photo)
" Audiences at Frostburg can expect to see feats of skill such as the Toscano Troupe seven-person aerial act on the high wire. "
"Performing elephants are among the acts offered by the New Jordan World Circus."
