THE BALLOON MAN

Christmas Day at the circus celebrates the inner child


Brynn Anderson/The Palm Beach Post
Carol, the Asian elephant, preformed during the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show to the audience of the all access pre-show came to the Palm Beach Convention center.
from: palmbeachpost.com
By Jason Schultz
December 26, 2012
For thousands of residents, celebrating Christmas this year meant cotton candy, clowns and scantily clad women having knives thrown at them.
Locals got in touch with their inner child Tuesday at the opening show of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus.
“I think I was 10 the last time I went to the circus,” said Rich Neuroth of Boca Raton, as he watched the pre-show before the opening performance at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

 

Brynn Anderson/The Palm Beach Post
The opening act of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The show typically opens on Christmas afternoon downtown and some residents, such as John Ferrall of Greenacres, said they have made it a holiday tradition to come to the traveling circus, still called nicknamed “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Ferrall has come for the past three years as a Christmas present to his sons, 9-year-old Jackson, and 8-year-old Riley.
“I hadn’t been for 30 years before this,” Ferrall said. “The best part is watching them (referring to his children), seeing it through their eyes.”
Barry Levien of Palm Beach said he hadn’t been to see a circus since he was a teenager living in New York. He brought his friend, Sherri Fichter, and her son, Noah, who had never been to a circus and shook his head frightfully, saying he wasn’t quite sure he liked it yet.
The “Holiday Circus Spectacular” show offered old-school circus mainstays such as mimes, a live band playing polka music, camels, horses, elephants and a knife throwing act. But it also featured a high-tech light show and pyrotechnics.
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