Ambling, mystical amazement! Danger and delight abound! So were the Jefferson County Fairgrounds this Fri. June 28, as they welcomed the Culpepper and Merriweather (C&M) Circus to Boulder for an evening of amusements and entertainment. Sponsored by the Boulder-Bull Mountain Volunteer Fire Department, who received roughly $500 from the C&M Circus, roughly 400 people attended the evening’s two performances.
“The clowns are weird. And I like them!” said seven-year-old Ashea Rasmussen after an exhilarating ride on the Boulder River Carousel, which was opened to the public for a single day as a part of the community support offered to the C&M Circus. The fairgrounds were also host to pony rides, inflatable bouncy playgrounds, intricate face paintings, souvenir and memorabilia vendors, and a delicious, if not gluttonous, concessions offering. The show itself began with an introduction to the circus’s big cats: Wendell the lion and Delilah the tiger.
“There is a fine line between princess and drama queen, and right now Delilah is walking it!” said C&M animal handler Trey Key during the night’s performance. Key, as part of a seeming effort to update traditional circus elements to modern tastes, presented the big cats as affectionate, sassy, well-fed, lazy personalities that acted however they pleased, though harmlessly. Providing for the safety and well being of the big cats, as well as organizing and executing the maddening logistics of a traveling circus, falls to a small army of migrant workers; many of whom have been employed by the circus for several years.
