Circus crews show they're an efficient act
By JACKIE LEATHERMANToday's News-Herald
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The first vehicle in the procession pulled up to the rodeo fairgrounds in Lake Havasu City around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
It was the 32-man tent crew. Their first task: drive 205 stakes into the ground.
The 150-foot by 220-foot big red top tent started to unfold over the next four hours.
All the while, a procession of 45 vehicles, more than half of them semi-trucks, rolled onto the grounds at SARA Park south of the city.
Thirty-six animals, from a zebra to elephants, were unloaded, watered and fed.
Then the mobile office pulled up, followed by the traveling kitchen, the concessions and the mechanical department that pulls up the rear just in case a vehicle breaks down while traveling.
The crew had awakened early in Prescott and drove south nearly 200 miles to perform two shows in Lake Havasu City Wednesday.
Today they move on to Parker, then to 29 Palms to kick off their seven-week tour through California.
They perform every single day from mid-March through mid-November. This year, they happen to get Easter off.
Every single day, 150 people travel the miles to create a two-hour memory for nearly 2,000 people each show. Only about 20 percent of the crew actually performs in the circus.
Barbara Byrd’s family owns the Carson and Barnes Circus, based in Oklahoma. She said her family has owned the circus for 75 years making it the longest, family-circus ownership in America’s history.
She said the circus business is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And many of the crew are third and fourth generation. She said the traveling exhibit is almost entirely “self-contained” by providing their own electricity, water, septic, school for employees’ children, and an employee cafeteria.
“People have no concept (of what it takes to get a circus show ready),” Byrd said. “We have a great bunch of people … that just want to keep the circus alive.”
Byrd said she spends much of her time making sure licenses and permits are squared away in each of the cities and counties they visit.
But she said she still makes time to watch the shows.
“I enjoy the show,” she said. “It’s something you have to really love or you wouldn’t do it. Sometimes you get jaded and a little tired and you wonder how long (you can do it), but it makes you feel like you are doing something worthwhile. It’s a family thing. I think it’s a thing where you are making memories. We make memories for families.”
The first vehicle in the procession pulled up to the rodeo fairgrounds in Lake Havasu City around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
It was the 32-man tent crew. Their first task: drive 205 stakes into the ground.
The 150-foot by 220-foot big red top tent started to unfold over the next four hours.
All the while, a procession of 45 vehicles, more than half of them semi-trucks, rolled onto the grounds at SARA Park south of the city.
Thirty-six animals, from a zebra to elephants, were unloaded, watered and fed.
Then the mobile office pulled up, followed by the traveling kitchen, the concessions and the mechanical department that pulls up the rear just in case a vehicle breaks down while traveling.
The crew had awakened early in Prescott and drove south nearly 200 miles to perform two shows in Lake Havasu City Wednesday.
Today they move on to Parker, then to 29 Palms to kick off their seven-week tour through California.
They perform every single day from mid-March through mid-November. This year, they happen to get Easter off.
Every single day, 150 people travel the miles to create a two-hour memory for nearly 2,000 people each show. Only about 20 percent of the crew actually performs in the circus.
Barbara Byrd’s family owns the Carson and Barnes Circus, based in Oklahoma. She said her family has owned the circus for 75 years making it the longest, family-circus ownership in America’s history.
She said the circus business is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And many of the crew are third and fourth generation. She said the traveling exhibit is almost entirely “self-contained” by providing their own electricity, water, septic, school for employees’ children, and an employee cafeteria.
“People have no concept (of what it takes to get a circus show ready),” Byrd said. “We have a great bunch of people … that just want to keep the circus alive.”
Byrd said she spends much of her time making sure licenses and permits are squared away in each of the cities and counties they visit.
But she said she still makes time to watch the shows.
“I enjoy the show,” she said. “It’s something you have to really love or you wouldn’t do it. Sometimes you get jaded and a little tired and you wonder how long (you can do it), but it makes you feel like you are doing something worthwhile. It’s a family thing. I think it’s a thing where you are making memories. We make memories for families.”
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