THE BALLOON MAN

When life becomes a circus

Irem Temple Shrine event back in town

A tiger jumps through a flaming hoop at the 65th annual Irem Temple Shrine Circus at the 109th Field Artillery Armory in Wilkes-Barre on Monday afternoon.A tiger jumps through a flaming hoop at the 65th annual Irem Temple Shrine Circus at the 109th Field Artillery Armory in Wilkes-Barre on Monday afternoon.

from: psdispatch.com

By Jon O’Connell

April 21. 2014 

 WILKES-BARRE — It’s on with the show.

For its 65th year, the Irem Temple Shrine in Dallas Township brought the circus to town with bicycling bears, tightrope-walking tigers and daredevil motorcycle stunts performed by the acrobats and animals of the Royal Hanneford Circus from Sarasota, Fla.

With two performances daily, the local Shriners hope to fill the house for each show.

The nostalgic smells of cotton candy, lighter fluid from flaming rings and, yes, even a little elephant dung mixed in the air as the sunlight streamed through the skylights as folks filed into the 109th Field Artillery Armory on Monday afternoon for this year’s debut show.

Stephen Stemmler, 10, of Forty Fort, waited anxiously for the show to start with his friend Michael Jordan, 7, of Jermyn. The two boys were anticipating the motorcycle act and pointed to a large sphere-shaped cage sitting in the shadows outside the circus rings.

Jordan hypothesized how the riders stay upright on their bikes while zipping around inside the cage.

“Maybe they use sticky glue on the tires so they don’t fall off the tracks,” Jordan said.

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http://www.psdispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=TL&date=20140421&category=news&lopenr=304219857&Ref=AR