Jaffa Shrine hosts yearly circus

Kaya Newell, Reporter

The Jaffa Shrine Circus comes to town every year around April.  This year, the show included sixteen acts and featured three acts from America’s Got Talent. The show also showcased many animals such as elephants, horses, lions, tigers and dogs.

I have been going to the circus every year since I was little.  When I was younger, my favorite thing was to meet all the clowns and ride the elephants.  After going for so many years, one may start to notice that every year it is pretty much the same exact thing.

Before starting the show, families had the opportunity to ride the elephants and children could ride the ponies. Although I may say it was a bit pricey as for one elephant ride was $10 per person, and the elephant only went around one time.  Once entering the circus, there were many vendors set up for face painting, which was $7, toy vendors and the opportunity of meeting all the clowns.

I thought the set up was very nice with face paint vendors on each end and and the clowns in the middle.  Throughout the show, there were many workers walking around selling cotton candy, soda and water, popcorn and snow cones.  I thought this very convenient because if audience members get hungry during the show, there is no need to leave.

Another thing I really enjoyed was that there was an intermission.  They performed ten acts then took about a 30 minute intermission then performed the rest of the acts.  They included many different tricks with people from all over the country.

Three of the acts included people who previously appeared on the television show America’s Got Talent. One of them being Bello Nock who performed more than one act throughout the night; all were very fun and interesting. The Chicago Boyz, who were also from America’s Got Talent, performed many flip tricks that were quite breathtaking and left one on the edge of her seat. Wesley Williams was also a performer who did tricks on a unicycle. He ended his act with a stunning ride on a 25 foot unicycle.

My favorite act was the high-wire act performed by the Lopez Troupe. It was interesting to see how they could balance while doing crazy stunts.  I would definitely recommend going to see the circus to any family looking for a fun night.