THE BALLOON MAN

Incoming circus prompts changes in Lake George

from: poststar.com
by  JAMIE MUNKS -- jmunks@poststar.com
July 8, 2012
LAKE GEORGE -- It’s not going to be business as usual in the village when the circus rolls into town.

The Big Apple Circus is setting up this week in Lake George and will be putting on shows beginning Saturday and running through July 29.

This is the first time the circus will be at a venue where some changes will need to be made to accommodate the four-legged performers, said Philip Thurston, public relations manager for the Big Apple Circus.

“I was standing on the site (when the Fort William Henry cannon fired) and I nearly jumped out of my skin,” he said. “That would scare the horses.”

The circus performs in New York City where there are often sirens, but in Lake George, a cannon regularly fires and large tour boats sound their horns as they back up.

“We’ve never had to encounter those problems anywhere else,” Thurston said.

The cannon fire will cease, fireworks shows will be held later in the evening and the tour boats will wait until they’re farther out into the lake when the circus is in town.

No one sits more than 50 feet from the ring, which creates an intimate setting, Thurston said.

The tent, which is air-conditioned, seats about 1,700 people. The show features exotic animals such as the African crested porcupine and a pot-bellied pig from Vietnam.

Daring trapeze routines, a magician and a clown called Grandma are all part of the lineup for the circus show, titled “Dream Big.”

The circus performers are from all around the world, from places like Colombia, Russia and Bulgaria.

This is the first time the Big Apple Circus is coming to Lake George. It came about when Village Mayor Robert Blais was tasked with finding events for Charles R. Wood Park, the former Gaslight Village site, and the Big Apple Circus was the first to respond, Blais said.

The performers arrive this week after finishing up their final show in Rhode Island on Sunday.

The crew plans to get the four masts in place that hold up the tent Tuesday evening, in time for the big top tent to be put up between 9 a.m. and noon on Wednesday.

It takes several hours to put the tent up before the ring, lighting, the sound system and seating can be installed.

The tent-master calls putting up the tent “the show before the show,” Thurston said.

“Seeing the big top go up is as big a spectacle as the circus itself,” Blais said.

In the days between when the performers and crew arrive and the first performance on Saturday, a village is set up for them to stay in while they’re in town, Thurston said.