every summer my work gets the circus. i think in the whole state of california we get it for the longest stopover – this year was 11 days. even working one day of it is too damn long.
my observations:
- for the friday & saturday night shows, most of the mothers have their hoochiefied club outfits on for what i’m assuming is to go out and slut it up after they drop their childrens off. super tight tiny black dress? check. 5 inch stilettos? check.
- saturday & sunday mornings are full of parents wearing sunglasses, buying coffee and yelling at their kids to SHUT UP. clearly signs of a hangover – it’s the circus, let your kids scream their heads off if they want.
- the circus sells popcorn or cotton candy for $10-12 EACH. at least the cotton candy comes with a nifty hat.
- i actually witnessed a crazy yelling match between circus vendors, i wonder if this happens often since they travel 10 months out of the year together. they must get sick of eachother. the younger ones were playing their music on their ipods and singing obnoxiously loud during downtime (there were 2 shows that day: one earlier in the morning and another one at around 730pm so they take out their inflatable beds & relax or play on their laptops) – so the older group starts yelling at them to “SHUT THE FUCK UP”. it was crazy.
- there seemed to be much more circus kids than past years – during the circus they go upstairs to the “nursery” while their parents are working and after they come down and help their parents close up shop. sometimes they’d be running around the concourse at 11pm or outside in the parking lot. some of the preteens looked angry that they had to help their parents. i couldn’t help but wonder how their little lives really were…
- one of the circus vendors had a little side hustle. she had a little table set up for the other circus people to buy coffee, sodas, snacks and breakfast goodies.
- one of the circus performers, more specifically a lady that rides in on the elephants was in full makeup and helping her sister pack up her merch table at the end of the circus. it’s a family affair. while i’m watching them do this, one of the ladies from the nursery comes running over with a toddler in her hand with his face bleeding. freaked me out!
my favorite part of the circus is watching the elephants. here’s baby barack – he’s such a cutie!
by the way, carnival people are called carnies – what are circus people called?
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