THE BALLOON MAN

Circus helps out in Joplin (6/13)

Elephant trainer, George Hanneford, III, performs with his two elephants during Piccadilly Circus on Sunday at the Civic Center. (KAREN WINK / AMERICAN PRESS)
By Rachel Warren / AMERICAN PRESS
The Piccadilly Circus rolled into town Saturday, bringing with it a clown car full of heroes and one big celebrity.
The circus made national news last month when performers helped Joplin, Mo., residents clean up in the aftermath of the devastating tornado.
Zack Garden, Piccadilly Circus general manager, said the circus passed through Joplin on its tour across the country.
Garden said he and some of the circus performers ventured into the destroyed neighborhoods to help Joplin residents sort through debris when he saw something that bothered him.
“There were tow trucks out there charging money to move cars and debris,” he said. “So we decided to bring the elephant out there.”
Ocka, the circus’s Asian elephant, helped performers as they separated the debris into piles of wood, metal and personal items.
Garden said the circus’s other two elephants are African and not physically built to pull heavy materials.
“The majority of people were happy and were crying,” Garden said. “Everybody was crying, including myself.”
Garden said several residents offered to pay the circus for their services, but he refused.
Cuinn Griffin, Piccadilly Circus promotional director, said the circus was set to perform at Joplin’s Memorial Hall on May 29.
But the arena was being used to house several patients forced to evacuate the devastated St. John’s Regional Medical Center.
“It was either take a day off or go out and do something nice for the community,” Garden said.
Several of the circus’s clowns and performers visited the arena to cheer up patients, he said.
Griffin said clowns also visited several other shelters in the area.
“We just did whatever we could to help out,” Garden said.