THE BALLOON MAN

Evansville families create holiday tradition at Hadi Shrine circus


Photo by Sam Owens
 One of the Hadi Shrine Circus show girls looks out to the crowd during the opening announcements made by the ring master before the acts start at the 79th annual Hadi Shrine Circus in the Ford CenterThursday.
By Thomas B. Langhorne
from:  courierpress.com
November 22, 2012
EVANSVILLE — They were everywhere at the 79th Hadi Shrine Circus on Thursday — families enjoying a Thanksgiving tradition just as time-honored as gobbling turkey and watching football games in a tryptophan-induced stupor.
Nathan Vaughan has been coming to the circus with his mother, Lisa, for his entire life. Nathan is just 3, so that would be since 2009.
Lisa Vaughan, a stay-at-home mother in Evansville, said the annual event has already become a happy expectation for Nathan.
"My husband is an emergency room physician and he works all holidays, so this is a family tradition for Nathan and me," Vaughan said as the pair watched the circus at the Ford Center. "That way my son has a tradition on Thanksgiving that we always do."
Nathan "likes the motorcycles,"
his mom disclosed as the youngster bounced on her knee.
"He likes watching them rev up and go around in a circle and doing all their tricks," she said.
The four-day, eight-show circus kicked off Thursday with organizers touting plenty of new acts and new lighting to keep event veterans like Nathan interested.
 

 

Photo by Sam Owens
The Juggling Jitterbugs perform for the audience at the 79th annual Hadi Shrine Circus in the Ford Center, Thursday. The circus will have shows through Sunday.
Brian Ball, public relations manager for the circus, talked of new acrobats, an acrobatic horse act, dog acts and plenty of dangerous-looking motorcycle stunts.
read more:
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/nov/22/after-turkey-comes-the-circus/