Saturday, August 25, 2012

Youth Circus comes to town
 
Madelynn Shortt
Wenatchee Youth Circus
Members of the Wenatchee Youth Circus, with Paul Pugh supervising in the background, set up the high wire on the Central Washington University campus on Thursday. Performances are planned today and Saturday. (Madelynn Shortt / Daily Record)

Friday, August 24, 2012
FROM: dailyrecordnews.com
By Madelynn Shortt staff intern
With the sounds of hammers pounding in the background, Paul Pugh kept a watchful eye on the scene outside the McIntyre Music Building at Central Washington University on Thursday afternoon.
Young people ranging up to 20 years old were working to set up for the Wenatchee Youth Circus’ performances this weekend. A red and white tent was up in the field, and youth were helping to set up the high-wire platforms.
Pugh, who introduced himself as Guppo the clown, is in charge of the 60-year-old circus. He created the character of Guppo years ago. The nonprofit, volunteer-based circus started as an after-school tumbling project.
“I put circus music behind everyone on records and it just happened,” he said as he laughed. “We did have a live band at one point.”
The circus has performed everywhere from Anchorage, Alaska, to El Paso, Texas. It is currently traveling with 70 people, a number that includes children and their parents.
There are about 40 performers at this weekend’s shows. Although the troupe is titled a “youth” circus, Pugh said there is no official cut off age for performers.
“If they’d like to stay around and help, that’s fine,” Pugh said.
Pugh said he used to have to search for places to perform, but business has picked up over the years. The youth circus has been to Ellensburg a number of times before. As wind threatened to blow down the red and white tents Thursday, Pugh said calmly, “we’ve played in the wind before.”
Pugh couldn’t put a finger on his favorite part of being so involved with the circus. He said he felt like a mother hen and couldn’t possibly choose one chick as his favorite.
“I like it all and we try to bring good entertainment,” he said.
read more:
http://www.dailyrecordnews.com/news/circus-comes-to-town/article_a420d5cc-ee2b-11e1-a813-0019bb2963f4.html
 


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