THE BALLOON MAN

Circus makes a two-day visit

KELLY MILLER CIRCUS MARKS 76TH YEAR ON THE ROAD

Renee Bronaugh, Daily Journal

When raising the big top, the elephants help to lift the four biggest poles in the tent with the assistance of a piece of equipment.

Find three galleries of photos from the circus at www.dailyjournalonline.com.

from: dailyjournalonline.com

by RENEE BRONAUGH 

The Kelly Miller Circus visited St. Francois County last week.

They raised the big top Thursday morning with the help of the elephants. Onlookers who came to watch the free event were given a mini tour and learned several interesting things about the circus.

 

This marks Kelly Miller’s 76th anniversary, and the two-day, four-show appearance was sponsored by the St. Francois County Rotary Club. A portion of the proceeds went in support of the year-round projects the Rotary Club is involved in.

A show started off with Ryan Holder and his amazing tigers that performed various tricks for the audience. In addition to the tigers, Rebecca Ostroff gave a performance in an aerial silk routine with the North Starlets.

Ostroff flew through the air striking poses and rolling through the silk while free falling with a graceful ease. She also performed a trapeze act, swinging to the top of the tent and putting herself into poses while high in the air. She finished her performance with her “iron jaw” routine, holding on with nothing but her teeth while spinning high above the ground.

Other acts included Fridman Torales and his chair balancing act, two contortionists, llamas, dogs and goats in a patriotic routine performing several tricks of balancing and jumping through hoops. There was a juggler, dancing camels and a couple hilarious performances from Steve the clown.

Armando Loyal and his elephants gave a performance to remember. Loyal has worked with elephants his whole life and seems to have a special bond with them as they followed his every command and even appeared to smile while posing.

The performance to end the show was "Lamount the Human Volcano." He is a self-taught fire eater who wowed the crowd with his talent to swallow, juggle and spin fire. He finalized his performance by spitting fire and illuminating the big top in the process.

The crowd was able to enjoy not only the performances, but traditional circus concessions, elephant rides, pony rides and more.

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