CIRCUS FLORA

Storm intrudes on Circus Flora's delightful moon trip
poster


from:  stlbeacon.org
In Out & About
By Harper Barnes, special to the Beacon
Sun, 06.02.13
The theme of this year's Circus Flora is "A Trip to the Moon," an homage to the 1902 fantasy film of the same name, but on Friday night there was no moon to be seen in the angry skies above the big red tent in Grand Center. Inside, a fanciful replica of the moon smiled over the circus ring. The opening night crowd was enjoying itself mightily, focused on entertainment, not the weather.
As the first half of the program came to a rousing close, with Janine Del'Arte's band blaring out oom-pahs, the audience of more than 1,000 rose to give an enthusiastic standing ovation to the Flying Wallendas, who had mixed a bicycle, a lawn chair and a top-hat sized hunk of "moon cheese" into the high wire act that is one of the most cherished perennials of this circus. Narrator Cecil MacKinnon, glittering in a star-streaked cloak and wizard's hat, announced it was time for a 15-minute intermission.

 

St. Louis Arches
Then sirens sounded, and she immediately changed the announcement: a tornado warning was in effect, and the audience was to make an "orderly exit" out of the tent and walk "calmly" westward across Grand Blvd. to a shelter in the basement of Corcoran Veterans Hospital at Grand and Delmar.
In recent times, for good reason, those of us who live in the middle of the country have become more alert to the dangers of tornadoes, and after some momentary milling, and a few more reassuring but firm words from MacKinnon, the crowd began filing out of the tent and headed through a light drizzle toward the sanctuary of the large hospital.

Several tornadoes were reported in the area, but only heavy thunderstorms swept across Grand Center. Meanwhile, the audience, or at least most of it, was sheltered inside the hospital, and most of the circus people were tending to their animals in the big tent or in their trailers. Johnny Peers and his dozen or more dogs, the Muttville Comix, found shelter in the Green Room of Powell Hall, where the St. Louis Symphony was performing the music of the long-defunct rock group Queen.

By the time the storm had cleared the area, it was well after 9 o'clock, too late to start again, particularly given the large number of children in the audience, said executive director Joel Emery. "By the time we could have reassembled audience and performers," he said, "it would have been after 10 o'clock, and I don't think anyone wanted that."
read more:
https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/31210/circus_flora_moon_060213