4 thoughts on “The Day the Circus Came to Town”

  1. Crickets? Crickets! A great story like this –and even better comments– and you’re quibbling about the crickets?!!!
    They’re baby birds and I didn’t think anyone would notice. And if they did, how could that be the most annoying part of this video? Sheesh.

  2. What’s the deal… sounds like you got a bunch of crickets in the basement.

  3. Just a few years earlier, in conjunction with the Delta Fair, a free-lance elephant was traveling with the carnival. She appeared in the Delta Fair parade, ridden by Baby Jack Allen, another radio personality, with KBXM at the time.
    Some high school boys were recruited with shimmering dreams of show-biz glamor. They found themselves issued clown suits and scoop shovels so that the elephant dung would not sully the spats of the marching bands.
    At the fairgrounds, elephant rides were to be had at a very reasonable price. No monstrous loading dock for mounting, just a rickety wooden step-ladder, as you might find in anyone’s garage. No giant steel howdah, either: you sat right down on the elephant… like Tarzan.
    “Is this your elephant, mister?” “Mine while I got her.”, he replied.
    For my first ride, I was seated on the neck, JUST like Tarzan. It was as great as it could possibly be. I was about ten and I was riding an elephant about a mile high and it was sweet. The trainer walked her around in a pretty short circle, occasionally prompting her with the ankus and saying “Come on, Keri.”
    The ride was too short, and I couldn’t wait to get back on. This time, I did not get the neck seat. I was tightly sandwiched in amongst a half-dozen or so of the great (but small) unwashed.
    Keri was a big elephant, but she was not a fat elephant. Her backbone stuck up like a 2×6. Her wiry elephant hairs stuck out randomly like a spiky minefield. I was wearing short pants. The other parts of the stinky child sandwich were stinky and dirty. I didn’t line up for a third ride.
    Still, riding the neck like Tarzan… you can’t beat it. It is one of my most cherished childhood memories.

  4. Topically, wsn’t it PT Barnum who said there’s a sucker born every minutes ? No prizes for guessing who was the sucker…

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