Big Apple Circus – Play on!

Since it is February, that means there are a couple of circuses in town. Actually there are more this year since Cirque du Soleil has extended it run in Atlanta. But I was really referring to the traveling circuses that use animals and traditional clowns and not the creepy ones. (Well, come to think of it, aren’t they all a little creepy?) For the second year in a row, we decided not to go to the big overblown circus down at Philips arena (Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey) but to go to the smaller more intimate Big Apple Circus at Stone Mountain. We liked it last year and thought we would take the boys again this year. But it wasn’t quite the hit it was last year for the guys.

It was still exciting to walk into the big top and get hit in the face with the overwhelming smell of popcorn and cotton candy. That got their attention and they made a beeline to the concession stand. After standing in line and paying way to much for stale popcorn, a bag of sour gummies and a cheap souvenir cup (that didn’t even make it through one wash cycle before cracking) we made our way to our seats. We went with some good friends who also have a son in between Mac’s age and Henry’s age. We all didn’t sit together, but since the place was so small, we could easily see them from our seats. Once in the seats, the boys seemed more concerned with they popcorn and candy then there were with the acts. This year’s theme was “Play on” and most of the acts and in-between acts by the clowns incorporated music and/or musical instruments. I felt like it was a pretty good circus even though the acts were like a poor mans Cirque du Soleil acts (their high wire was about 5 feet off the ground compared to 50 at cirque, their jugglers only go up to 10 items for two guys while at cirque, they had one guy do 12, and their drum solo wasn’t nearly as rocking as the cirque one). But overall it was an entertaining show. The boys didn’t get into it is as much as last year; they both took short naps while we were there, just not at the same time. Mac fell asleep right before intermission and Henry feel asleep right before the trapeze finale. They both loved the animal acts and the Oriental guy who balanced the ceramic pots on his head, but weren’t very interested in the rest. So this might be our last circus for a couple of years until they get a little older and can appreciate the other acts and the creepiness of the clowns!