Jackson Free Press

It was a muggy July evening in Mississippi. I had packed a picnic for my 1-year-old son, my then-husband and myself in a cooler in the red wagon--watermelon cubes, egg-salad sandwiches on pumpernickel bread, cucumber slices, corn on the cob, Fig Newtons and lots of ice-cold lemonade. We made our way to a family-friendly Fourth of July picnic in downtown Hattiesburg. We lounged on the picnic blanket eating our dinner, with a few baby toys and books scattered about. My son sat up and ate his corn on the cob, fascinated by the music playing, the people walking around with their dogs, and all the kids running and playing. It was an idyllic summer night.

Then, all of a sudden, he appeared. A tall clown with bright orange hair and a big red nose came over the horizon, with children flocking to him like the Pied Piper. He got closer and closer. The kids swarmed thicker and thicker. He sat on our picnic blanket with my family, and the kids scattered. My cheerful, easygoing, happy son was curious. He wanted a closer look. But as soon as Mama was no longer between him and the clown, he turned into a wailing banshee. I can still hear his screams echoing in my head today, and I wonder ... two years later, is he still afraid of clowns?

The circus is coming to Jackson, and for those of you with serious cases of coulrophobia (or those who have perhaps simply seen Stephen King's "IT" one too many times), you will be relieved to know that the greatest show on earth is about much more than clowns. I have magically fuzzy circus memories from my childhood, staying up late, sipping on Sprite and being amazed by a flying trapeze artist in a pink costume, twirling in the air over the tigers.

This summer, you can expect to see such professional circus performers as husband-and-wife animal trainers Cathy and Brett Carden, Brazilian dancers the Ringlettes, husband-and-wife hand balancing team Duo Fusion, aerial foot looper Francleib Rodrigues, 360-degree motorcyclists the Urias family, clown Dean Kelley, and many more. I am still not quite sure about the clowns. But what little boy can resist the motorcyclists and the animals?

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be in Jackson June 14 to 17 at the Coliseum (1207 Mississippi St., 601-961-4000). Tickets are $14 to $45. If you visit ringling.com in advance, you can request a free ticket for your baby younger than 12 months. And if you don't get enough of the greatest show on earth this time around, you can catch the circus again in Biloxi July 5 to 8.

Circus Tips for Parents

• If you decide to go to one of the 7 p.m. shows with your young children, be sure they take a good nap that afternoon so they don't get overtired before the circus ends. You may also wish to bring pajamas to change your kids into before you drive home, in case they fall asleep in the car and need to be carried straight to bed.
• As with so many events with expensive concessions, you might want to eat before you go, or warn your kids about your snack budget in advance so you don't put your children's college tuitions in jeopardy.
• Before you get to the circus, talk to your kids about your expectations for their behavior at the Coliseum. If you establish the rules in advance, you are all likely to have much more fun together without the whining, begging or misbehaving that could occur.
• Visit the circus website (ringling.com) before and after the show for a variety of fun and educational circus-related games and activities to supplement your child's in-person circus experience.
• If your kids can sit (relatively) still for longer periods of time, go to the circus an hour early for the free pre-show party that includes backstage visits, photos with the performers, dancing and much more.

Previous Comments

ID

167907

Comment

why is jfp supporting the torture of animals? the circus is a torture chamber for our entertainment. elephants in particular are intelligent creatures who have highly evolved emotions. i want the author of this article to explain why she would support this in any way. chad vance

Author

zippo1155

Date

2012-06-13T16:43:35-06:00

ID

167920

Comment

Yeah, Chad...good luck with that.

Author

Darryl

Date

2012-06-17T22:12:09-06:00

ID

167932

Comment

I agree with Chad - I would have expected the JFP to cover the protests of the cruelty to animals that happened in Jackson related to this event. Large animals suffer greatly when forced to be used for our entertainment.

Author

Izzy

Date

2012-06-18T16:28:55-06:00

ID

167938

Comment

Izzy, I wasn't aware that there were protests outside the circus. Folks like to think that we're omnipresent because we get so much done, but we don't know if we don't know. My suggestion is that someone pitch us a story rather than trying to excoriate a hard-working staff for not getting to something they weren't aware of. That seems more productive and a tad classier. There were also, I believe, two state executions of human beings last week on behalf of all of us, and we didn't have time to do as much as I would have liked about that, either. As far as running a circus story by the mother who writes our parenting page, we also run recipes containing meat, and the vegetarian owners (Todd and me) personally think that eating animal flesh is disgusting. But we run them anyway. For what it's worth.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2012-06-19T08:52:19-06:00

ID

167939

Comment

I hear that. I have always thought that the paper did a good job at representing many ethical points of view (like the pro-life story Casey did awhile back). Also, I’m sure there are many important issues that do not get covered. I feel great emotional horror at the use of animals for entertainment and it’s something I wish there could be more awareness of. However I do regret any disrespect to the staff writer or the paper as a whole.

Author

Izzy

Date

2012-06-19T09:16:30-06:00