The Greatest Show on Earth??

Last Sunday we took the kids (Evan, Sophie, and Logan) to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. I've never been to the circus before, and neither has Logan, so this was a good opportunity. We all met up early and took the MAX train to the rose quarter from Lloyd center, the kids enjoyed the train ride. We made sure to get to the Rose Garden early so we could see the pre-show activities. However the most memorable pre-show activity was pretty unpleasant. The Rose Garden doors didn't open until Noon. Many families with small kids sat around the nearby fountain patiently waiting for opening time. Kids ranging from infants to mid teens, most however were 3-10 years old. 30 mins before opening time a clown, holding a large sign and a megaphone walks up. All the kids eyes light up as they see him, thinking that the circus is going to provide some line entertainment. The clown walks within 10 feet of the waiting line and starts yelling into his megaphone (with the output volume maxed out). The noise was ear piercing! After listening to the clown for a couple mins and reading his sign (stating something about 19 Dead Elephants), everyone realizes that it's a radical PETA protester. No one was excited to see this guy, but what can you do? It's a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If this guy wants to show up and say a few words about animal abuse, so be it. Everyone just tries their best to ignore him. However after a few mins he starts to GRAPHICALLY explain some elephant abuse scenarios. Everyone becomes irate. It's just not okay to say that type of stuff in front of small children. The fun didn't stop there, he then starts to explain the criminal backgrounds of a few employees of the circus from over the years. Graphically detailing some of the accusations (child porn, sexual molestation, public masturbation, ...). That is just too much. And with the megaphone blasting in your ear 10 feet away, it was nearly impossible to ignore the guy. I'm surprised he wasn't evicted due to public disturbance or noise violation. At this point I even wanted to go kick some sense into this guy. Some people yelled at him to quit scaring the children, or to quiet it down. At one point a couple large guys walked up to him and tried to get in his face. However the Rose Garden security pulled them aside and asked that they not. Seems like they've dealt with this guy before. Mean while this guy's female friend is walking around handing out propaganda coloring books to the children. She's got everyone fooled into thinking she's some nice lady handing out some circus freebies. I saw her walk up with the clown, so I knew better. Some ladies were even bringing their kids up to her asking for a coloring book. Darci picked one up on accident from her. It was stating stuff like "Bears don't like to ride motorcycles, they like to be free in the woods". That really pushed the line in my book. You don't directly put your message out to children. The guy in front of me had four little kids with him, he gave the lady an ear full. Telling her "you should be ashamed for what you're doing here, there are kids present". Her only come back was "Well it's horrible what they do to these elephants". I really wanted to smack her for being so ignorant. I think the only thing saving these two from a full on beat down was that there where children present, and no one wanted to subject their kids to a blood bath. Having never been to the circus before, I don't know what kind of abuse any of the animals are put through. Maybe I'll do some reading now and see what the whole story is. However these two really handled the situation poorly. There are a hundred better methods of getting the message out then to lower themselves and abuse children in the manner they did. That doesn't make them any better then the elephant torturers they profess to hate. They could have setup a booth, walked around silently with a sign and handed out leaflets to anyone interested, held an organized protest downtown, made a documentary special air it on OPB, etc ...

Eventually noon rolled around and we were all able to enter the building and put those assholes behind us. Found our seats and enjoyed the pre-show, which consisted of some small clown comedy acts, unicyclists, jugglers, acrobat acts, etc. I really have to commend the circus performers for one act of kindness. Somehow it was brought to the attention of the performers on the floor that a small boy had become lost. I don't know if he wandered up and told them, or if someone found him lost and brought it to their attention. Regardless, they brought him out into the open performance area and asked him his name, and who he came to the show with. Then they had one of the camera men display the boys face up on the large display screen on the wall of the Rose Garden. They announced on the loud speaker the boys name, that he was lost, that he was looking for his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin, and for them to please come down to the floor and claim him. They kept his face displayed on the big screen, while giving the boy extra attention (including him in their comedy act, playing with him a little). This lasted for about 5 mins and then the kids Aunt came down and claimed him. This really helped reunite the family. Having been lost myself many times at large scale events when I was little, I know how scary that is, and it can take quite a while to find your family and meanwhile everyone is freaked out. Before the main show started I went to the concession stand to get a drink. I knew the prices where going to be high, but I didn't expect the robbery that was going to take place. $12 for an elephant cup snow cone, $5 for a 24 oz. Coke, and $5 for a pretzel. Geez... I stopped briefly at the souvenir counter, and quickly walked away after seeing a stuffed elephant for $30, and the fun lighted toys for $15-25. Dang!! Logan was quite upset that he didn't get a light up sword. But heck, the toys where more expensive then the admission tickets. The main show was very entertaining. They had lots of clown comedy acts, classic & Chinese acrobatics, trained cats & dogs, the classic strong man, some elephant tricks, Russian horsemen stunts, and even a seven motorcycle globe of death. It was all pretty entertaining, but far from the "Greatest Show on Earth", it might have been that back in the early 1900's when there wasn't much professional level entertainment accessible to the average joe. Today however the show is pretty subpar. I'm much more impressed by the performance and showmanship of the Cirque du Soleil. However the circus is deeply ingrained in the history of America. It's provided us with entertainment for generations, showed us the oddities of the world, and provided employment and home to the outcasts freaks and midgets for over a century. :P It would be a shame to see it disappear like so many other beloved venues.