Bel Air campus to host circus April 2

By Dan Gordon

March 21, 2007 09:34 am

— Bounce houses and face-painting are good fun, but there’s just something special about a flying trapeze.
Bel Air Elementary will hold its first full-fledged circus on April 2.
The Kelly Miller Bros. Circus, founded in 1938, is a traveling show based in Oklahoma. The circus will be performing in Athens as one of its earliest shows of the 2007 season.
Bel Air has held an annual spring carnival on its campus for more than 20 years. This year’s circus, like the carnival, is being sponsored by the Bel Air Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO).
“We’ve had a carnival for many, many years. We thought this would be a change of pace,” Bel Air Elementary Principal Renee Campbell said. She said the idea of an actual circus was approved by Athens ISD Superintendent Fred Hayes.
“Mr. Hayes said, ‘We’ve never had a circus before,’” Campbell said. “And I said, ‘Well, let’s do it.’”
Campbell said she’d heard about Kelly Miller Bros. through a PTO member.
“We had a PTO mom who had experience with the company,” she said. “We saw the success of the circus. We saw that they were respectable.
“It made me feel a little better that we had someone with experience with the circus.”
Instead of being held on the Bel Air campus, the circus will be set up in a lot on the corner of Madole Street and Dul Avriett Street across from the Athens Intermediate campus. Circus workers and volunteers will begin raising the tent at 9 a.m.
The circus will be open to parents and students of all grade levels. Campbell said the lot was chosen both for space and to create a more central location for Athens students.
“This way, everybody can be a part of it,” Campbell said. “We have some high school students who are going to be helping us set things up.
“It looks like it’s going to be really cool.”
The day’s festivities will consist of two performances at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Among the attractions will be clowns, jugglers, contortionists and all manner of aerial stunts, including trapeze artists, bungee jumpers and a “wheel of destiny.” Live animals, including trained dogs, camels and elephants, will also be hosted at the shows.
There will be a number of midway-style game booths at the circus in addition to the performances. A raffle drawing for three $250 VISA gift cards will also be held after the 4:30 performance. Raffle tickets will be sold at the circus for $1 apiece.
Advance tickets are on sale at the Bel Air and Athens Annex campuses for $9 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets will also be sold at the door for $12 for adults and $6 for students.
For more information, contact Bel Air Elementary at 903-677-6980.
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e-mail dgordon@athensreview.com