THE BALLOON MAN

Thursday, June 27, 2013

ICELAND CIRCUS FESTIVAL

The Circus Arrives in Iceland’s Capital

from: icelandreview.com
26.06.2013
A circus village is currently being set up in Vatnsmýrin outside the Nordic House in central Reykjavík. The village will come alive with the Volcano Circus Festival which is set to open next week, running from July 4-14.
The village consists of seven circus tents, all of which bear the names of Icelandic volcanoes. The largest tent is called Eyjafjallajökull, visir.is reports.

“The largest tent seats 400 people. A 300-person tent is also being set up, along with a café tent and various other smaller tents, facilitating exhibitions and shops,” said Kristín Scheving, project manager at the Nordic House.

This will be the first time that a circus festival is held in Iceland. Sixteen circus groups from Europe and beyond will perform during the festival, including one of the best known Nordic circuses, Cirkus Cirkör, which will stage its show Wear it Like a Crown in cooperation with Reykjavík City Theater.
“It’s of course contemporary circus, there are no animals. People will go stage and show their tricks,” Kristín responded when asked whether there would be any animal shows.

Iceland will also be represented at the festival through four shows by Sirkus Ísland, including the new show Heima er best, which will be staged in the largest tent.

The festival is organized by the Nordic House and Circus Xanti from Norway.
For further information and tickets, go to midi.is.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

City to welcome Wallenda home with parade

Nik Wallenda made history Sunday, June 23, when he walked a 2-inch-wide cable suspended 1,400 feet above the Grand Canyon’s Little Colorado River Gorge.  (photo courtesy of Cliff Roles)
from: yourobserver.com
by: Observer Staff
Date: June 25, 2013
The Observer Media Group and the city of Sarasota invite the public to help welcome home the “King of the High Wire” Nik Wallenda at 7 p.m. Friday, July 5, for a Ticker Tape Homecoming Parade in downtown Sarasota.
The parade will begin at U.S. 301 and Main Street and precede the Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix’s Festival Parade of Boats. The parade will end at Gulfstream Avenue.
The parade will include the Wallenda family, Sailor Circus clowns and the Sarasota Military Academy drumline.
Spectators and attendees are encouraged to bring homemade banners and signs for Wallenda.
Sarasota Ford has agreed to provide vehicles for the parade, and organizers are working with Wallenda on his availability for autograph signing and public comments.   
Wallenda made history Sunday, June 23, when he walked a 2-inch-wide cable suspended 1,400 feet above the Grand Canyon’s Little Colorado River Gorge.   
The city encourages individuals to come out and congratulate Nik Wallenda on his latest feat

UniverSoul Circus

UniverSoul Circus

Published : Tuesday, 25 Jun 2013

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - If you're all about the razzle-dazzle of the circus, then you should check out the UniverSoul Circus. It's back in Norfolk this week and it's a show you won't want to miss. Co-Host and Comedian, N.O. was on the show to tell us more about this unique experience.

We also had a sneak peek of one of the acts, the Giang Brothers from Vietnam.

The UniverSoul Circus will take place at the Gallery at Military Circle located at 880 N. Military Hwy. You can get your tickets at the box office which is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., everyday. The circus opens Tuesday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m.

There are two shows Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and three shows on Saturday and Sunday. Click here for tickets and show times.

There's also a special free Youth Day Party on Wednesday, June 26 with music and entertainment for the youth

The circus comes to Mendon

Photo Dennis Stein.

Workers lay out the Kelly-Miller Circus tent Tuesday morning before it gets raised for two shows later that evening in Mendon, MA

from: Milford Daily News.com

Jun 25, 2013

MENDON — The Kelly-Miller circus set up Tuesday morning in Mendon and were scheduled for two performances Tuesday night before moving on to other Massachusetts towns

Photo Dennis Stein.
A Kelly-Miller Circus worker helps with getting the tent ready to be raised Tuesday morning, in Mendon, for two shows later that evening. Residents were invited to watch.

Travelling fairground girl receives First from Cambridge

A girl who grew up with a travelling fairground has received a First from Cambridge University.

Zoah Hedges-Stocks will graduate with a First in History, after studying for three years at Murray Edwards College

Photo: GEOFF ROBINSON

from: telegraph.co.uk

By Radhika Sanghani and agencies

25 Jun 2013

Zoah Hedges-Stocks, 23, who was born into a travelling fairground, will graduate from Cambridge University this week.

Ms Hedges-Stocks, who never completed a full school year and grew up in a caravan, spent every summer term working on her mum's food van selling burgers, toffee apples and candy floss to fairgoers.

She used to work at Cambridge University's prestigious May Balls and hoped to study there.

This Saturday she will graduate with a First in History, after studying for three years at Murray Edwards College.

She said: “I still can't quite believe I have got a First, it has been a lot of hours and a lot of essays.

Circus World leader hired to head up Wisconsin Farm

Stephen Freese, executive director of the Circus World Museum in Baraboo for the past six years, has been named chief administrative officer of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau.
Freese, 53, will oversee all day-to-day operations and 26 full-time staff for Wisconsin’s largest farm organization. He will succeed Roger Cliff, who will retire this year after a 40-year career with the Farm Bureau
Freese said he pursued the position earlier this year after a state proposal threatened to change the structure of Circus World Museum. Gov. Scott Walker proposed having the Wisconsin Historical Society take over the museum’s operations.
“Most of the (CWM) staff was doing the same thing (seeking other employment) to protect themselves and their families,” Freese said. “There’s never a guarantee of what might change when something’s in the governor’s budget.”
Freese was quoted in newspaper reports at the time accusing the Wisconsin Historical Society of trying to execute a takeover of Circus World.
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee removed the governor’s Circus World proposal from the state budget, so Freese said the organization will move ahead as a stand-alone museum.
As CWM executive director, Freese was responsible for all aspects of the operation, including maintenance, grounds upkeep, advertising, special events and customer service. The museum attracted 72,000 visitors in 2012.
read more:
http://www.thecountrytoday.com/front_page/article_50b12330-ddc5-11e2-b559-0019bb2963f4.html

Circus comes to Fort Pierre today, Thursday

from: capjouenal.com

Tue Jun 25, 2013.

By Justin Joiner

Features acrobats, elephants and many other acts

The Yelduz Shrine Circus, performing in Fort Pierre today and tomorrow, features a rare act, an elephant that can walk on a ball.

“One of our biggest features is the elephants,” Ringmaster Justin Loomis said. “We are very fortunate that we have three elephants here. We have the only elephant in the world that walks on a ball.”

The elephant was raised from a baby and has always had an interest in the ball.

“It was something she kind of did naturally,” Loomis said. “We had a ball in the pin with her that she always played with and wanted to stand on the ball so it worked out kind of well. It was easy to train her to do it, because it was something she wanted to do. She is 40 now and she has been doing it since she was a year old.”

In addition to the talented pachyderm, circus goers should also expect some tricks on the high-wire, a globe of death, talented acrobats and performing bears among many other acts.

Even those who attended last year’s circus performance should expect something different this year, Loomis said.

“If folks came to see the circus last year and they enjoyed it, they are really going to like the show this year,” he said. “We have a lot of new features. We try to keep the show fresh and change it up every year.

The circus is put on by the Oahe Shrine Club. Shriners are offshoots of the Masons and focus on helping children with medical needs, said Richard Decker, a past president of the Shrine Club.

Money raised from the circus goes to the Shrine Club, which distributes it to local causes as well as to help fund one of the organization’s main missions – its hospitals.

“The main reason the circus is so successful, first of all, it is a family venue, but all the money that we raise putting the circus on goes to the Shrine hospitals for children who may have needs, primarily orthopedic, but also cleft palate and burns and other things that come up,” he said.

Loomis said the hospitals are a wonderful cause.

“They don’t charge anybody a dime for the care there,” he said.

The ageless charm of Big Apple Circus

LIMBER Kramer at work.

from: providence.thephoenix.com
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ
June 25, 2013
This year’s incarnation of the Big Apple Circus (continuing through July 7 at Ninigret Park in Charlestown) is titled “Legendarium.” Guest director West Hyler has focused on the history of the circus, threading facts and fancies through ringmaster John Kennedy Kane’s narration and projecting them onto the colorful background banners. More evocatively, however, allusions to early circuses permeate the costumes, the music, and even the performance styles of this show.

The oxen-drawn circus wagon, bursting with Big Apple artists, is first upon the scene, with acrobats bouncing off the back of one of the oxen. High overhead, Andrey Mantchev executes trapeze flips, twists, and catches to the live band’s accompaniment of “The Daring Young Man On the Flying Trapeze,” and we learn that Jules Léotard invented the trapeze act and his eponymous outfit.

Just before Jenny Vidbel and her trained horses appear, Kane tells us that the diameter (42 feet) of the circus ring was determined by how far it took a horse to get up to a gallop. If trained horses sound like a yawn, rest assured: they’re always magical. In this case, three black and three light-colored horses do intricate patterns of alternation, with turns and lineups to rival any marching band. The show-capper for this act are the six white ponies that come on toward the end, running behind the horses and among them and doing their own weaves and circles.

The clowns in this show wear wigs and masks, which they show to the audience at the outset and a few other times, perhaps to allay the fears of any children (or adults) who have clown phobia. Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone call themselves “Acrobuffos,” though the buffoon is more evident, especially in the ballooning hips of Gelsone, who manages to also bounce on them, during a can-can sequence. Their rapport with the audience (yes, guests are prodded onstage) is tight, and their comic scenes are engaging.

Contortionist Elayne Kramer, who shoots a crossbow with her toes while in one of her W-shaped poses, and the Quinterion Troupe, whose three men toss and tumble and catch their female acrobat, set up expectations for Zhang Fan on the slack wire. He balances on feet, hands, head, a small ladder, and a unicycle, and he ends by swaying the wire, higher and higher, like a nightmarish swinging bridge, still clinging fast with his feet.

The second half of “Legendarium” has three acts that were as captivating as they were difficult to perform: tango juggling, an aerial duo, and trick riding on bicycles. Emily Weisse and Menno Van Dyke developed their choreography-plus-juggling in 2007, so Van Dyke’s ability to keep five to seven small balls in the air as he is seductively lured into tangoing with Weisse is polished to perfection.

Valeriy Sychev and Malvina Abakarova’s aerial straps duet, “Desire of Flight,” is absolutely jaw-dropping. With a combination of acrobatic and trapeze skills (and without a safety net), Sychev holds and catches Abakarova with one hand, bent legs, his back, or flexed feet, while his other hand holds onto a strap that is pulled high toward the apex of the big top. At one point, Abakarova walks over Sychev’s curled body as if it were a balancing ball, and then the two of them cling tight and spin up and over together. Amazing.
Read more: http://providence.thephoenix.com/arts/154592-simple-pleasures/#ixzz2XJX2dBwp

IOWA STATE FAIR

Published on Jun 25, 2013

Happiness is the Iowa State Fair! Whether it's the joy of an afternoon at the Fair with your family or the pride of winning a blue ribbon, "Nothing Compares" to 11 days spent enjoying your favorite bands and snacking on your favorite foods on-a-stick.

clever little goat

Uploaded on Jan 3, 2009

clever little goat at french circus

Lewis & Clark Circus

brings european flavor to big tent

from: wfmz.com
Author: 69 News
Jun 24 2013
QUAKERTOWN, Pa. - The Lewis and Clark Circus was in town this weekend, bringing 90 minutes of old-fashioned European-style circus fun to Quakertown, Bucks Co.

They have performers from six countries.

The performing animals, aerial artists and clowns are heading to Northampton next-- on Monday and Tuesday.
The circus is offering shows at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. each day.

It's a family friendly show and kids are free. Tickets are available online.
see video at:
http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-southeasternpa/lewis-clark-circus-brings-european-flavor-to-big-tent/-/121434/20687980/-/14fgp6u/-/index.html

Western Illinois Fair kicks off region's fair season on
Wednesday

from: whig.com
By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR/Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Jun 24, 2013

GRIGGSVILLE, Ill. -- The Western Illinois Fair marks its 125th year with a new look to the fairgrounds and old favorite grandstand entertainment.

The fair -- and the region's county fair season -- kicks off Wednesday at the fairgrounds in Griggsville.

Executive Secretary/Manager Lynn Freeman said the fair provides plenty of entertainment at a reasonable price.

A DARE program on Wednesday's Family Night offers kids activities and prizes. "It turned out to be a really, really big night last year, and I think it will grow this year," Freeman said.

Grandstand entertainment the rest of the week offers the queen pageant with 12 candidates, the school bus demolition derby, regular demolition derby and tractor pull.

Miller Spectacular Shows returns to the midway, bringing "a really good show," Freeman said. "They bring us six state fair rides which you won't see at most county fairs."

Carnival hours are 5-11 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 1-4:30 p.m. and 5:30-11 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m.-closing Sunday.

Admission price is $8 per person including rides on Wednesday night and $8 without rides and $15 with rides Thursday-Sunday. Admission includes parking and grandstand shows.

The fairgrounds sport several improvements for this year's fair including a new pavilion for dances and bands, a new sign for sponsors at the main gate and a new look for the livestock barn.

Using a $50,000 gift from the Richard L. Gray Perpetual Charitable Trust, "we have completely redone our barn for 4-H and FFA," Freeman said. "It is nice. It's probably the thing we're most proud of. Those kids will really get a boost out of it."

In addition, Freeman said old livestock barns at the entrance to the fairgrounds were taken down and some overhead power lines were taken down and installed underground.

"We tried to spruce up the place, make it look better," Freeman said.

Camel racing and more at county fairs this summer

CRAIG SCHREINER — State Journal archives
While some Wisconsin county fairs will rely on agricultural traditions, food and carnival rides to lure folks to the fairgrounds, others are trying more exotic entertainment such as camel racing.
from: madison.com
JACK CULLEN | Wisconsin State Journal
June 24, 2013
Camel racing has been a popular sport in parts of the Middle East for centuries, but it hasn’t exactly caught on in the U.S. That could change next month, with the debut of camel racing at the Lafayette County Fair in Darlington, believed to be the first in the state to offer the event.
As the first of 72 county fairs across the state get underway later this month, some, like Lafayette County, are aiming at ever more exotic attractions; others hope to appeal to tradition and nostalgia.
Lafayette County is borrowing four camels from Franksville-based Jo-Don Farms when the fair opens July 11. Sixteen pre-selected local participants, including a local doctor and policeman, will compete in four heats and the top four finishers from each heat will then race in the finals.
According to Bob Meyer, owner of Jo-Don Farms, mounting and riding a camel is nothing like getting on a horse.
“These animals are designed to walk long distances over long
periods of time,” said Meyer, who has trained camels since 1982. “As soon as a race starts, all four feet run in different directions, so it’s incredibly entertaining and hilarious watching people try to stay on their camel.”
To keep the camels’ focus and their eyes on the prize, there will be food for the camels at the finish line. While Dromedary (one hump) camels are typically used in races, a few lucky participants will get the chance to ride Omar, a Bactrian (two-hump) camel that moves at a much slower pace.
Dan Small, long-time producer and host of Milwaukee Public Television’s Outdoor Wisconsin, had the chance to race atop a Bactrian camel last summer.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me,” said Small, who ranks the race right up there with shooting Theodore Roosevelt’s cladding gun, which Roosevelt used during the Spanish American War. Small also compared riding a camel to riding a bumpy Tennessee walking horse.
“It was definitely a bucket list experience,” Small said.
Novelties like camel racing aside, the county fair is still mainly a place for connecting with a simpler time.
for a list of up coming fairs and Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/camel-racing-and-more-at-county-fairs-this-summer/article_a829dee2-b3dc-51d5-8cc1-5f9eb99ab5e2.html#ixzz2XFJ04QUU

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Play recalls notorious circus incident in nearby Tennessee

SART play recalls notorious circus incident from 1916

Claire Amon and Michael Mattison at Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre. / phots by Bill Sanders/Asheville Scene

from:citizen-times.com
by Tony Kiss

Jun. 24, 2013

\MARS HILL — As circus stories go, this is a dark one. But it’s tale that has never been forgotten just across the state line in east Tennessee.

On Sept. 13, 1916, authorities in Erwin, Tenn., hung a circus elephant that had killed its handler. Murderous Mary, as she was branded, met her fate dangling from a railroad crane in an incident so grotesque that it’s difficult to imagine today. The old Clinchfield Railroad tracks were near the current stretch of Interstate 26 that runs through Erwin, on the route between Asheville and Johnson City. The elephant was buried nearby.

The tale is recalled in the new play “A Tennessee Walk,” onstage this week at Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre in Mars Hill. Winner of SART’s annual Scriptfest competition, the story by playwright Rob Anderson is about a young African-American girl living in Erwin, who finds herself on the same path as Murderous Mary. An old woman who was a child at the time recalls the story for a writer.