Orbs 'r' Us

CIRCUS GATTI

Yesterday Pod, Trebor, Aj, JD and I travelled to the town south of us to see the "Circus Gatti".

This is a 45 minutes drive [doing the speed limit] from Dodge and we decided to eat at the "golden arches" first, to save money and fill up [food] before attending...cheaper! The total for gas & food came to about $50.00.

The first show was at 2:00 pm and we got there a little after 1:00. We managed to get a good spot to park the car and arriving early enough, a good seat to view the acts. That was the only good part!

The "rip off" started at the door! Kid's entry was free [for under 12], Adults was $22.00 and Seniors [62] was $16.00. I must look old enough to pass for a Senior...so we were able to save some money there! Amount spent at door...$60.00!

Arriving early means more time to eat and spend more money! We did get the best seats...center, with no one sitting in front of us, giving us a clear view of the 3 rings! In order to save these seats someone always had to be there. That meant listening to "circus" music while we waited! This would've been okay just as long as they changed-up the tune...nope...same song over and over and over! First irritation!

Second Irritation!
While one waited the vendors were busy "hawking" their wares!
First came the food...popcorn $4.00 per bag, cotton candy $4.00 per bag then snow cones for $4.00 per cup! Thankfully we shared the popcorn and cotton candy but we each had to have a snow cone [Pod & Trebor had coffee $2.00] so the total came to $24.00!
Of course the other vendors were busy with the "toy" sales! The big thing being the flashing "light sabers"...$8.00 for a small one and $12.00 for a large. We managed to put the kids off on those things because there is nothing harder than trying to watch something while there is a flashing light beside you and the fact that they have to be held throughout the whole show! We did make promises that they could get something after it was over!

Finally the show started and we didn't have to hear that music anymore!

This is where the biggest "rip off" part came!

The show consisted of: An Emcee who made the announcement of acts [too loudly and couldn't hear most of what he was saying], one clown who "screamed" out whatever he wanted you to know [the mc had to add his mike once in awhile...figuring that we couldn't hear the clown], 2 guys in under-inflated "Sumo Wrestlers" costumes trying to act funny, 4 girls who worked the "hanging swings", same 4 girls who did 2 dance [if you could call it dancing] routines, a crappy magic act done by the M.C. wearing a different coat who later did a "plate spinning" act and the only animal act...5 horses and two ponies!

One horse act was a "bareback" performer and then 4 horses that did their thing with the addition of the ponies later. I didn't care to see the horses/ponies having the heads restrained by tight reining...this is done to make their necks arch! Poor horses gave a good performance and didn't look like they were too reluctant...hopefully their training wasn't too bad?

The show was to be 2 hours long with an intermission. The intermission was another "hawking" of wares! They offered a cheap coloring book that had a hidden prize in it to be collected at the "prize table" near the center ring. This book cost $3.00 each! The only good thing about this was that the ones that AJ & JD got had "big prizes" in it and they both received a "blow-up" item...a pink dolphin for AJ and JD got a big mace. Thankfully this covered the promised "blow-up toy" at the end of the show!
They also brought out a big snake that you could hold and have your picture taken with! Of course it cost to have the picture taken...$5.00. PoD, AJ & JD had to have theirs taken with this creepy creature...thankfully without me! Snakes of any kind are a NO-NO with me! Also off to the side they had a blown up "jump around in" thing to amuse the kids who were strung out on candy! Don't know what that cost because our kids didn't partake...too full of other kids!

They had a "finnally" act that was the best thing of the whole show...4 motorcyclists that performed inside of a metal ball! The first to perform in that ball was a kid that was quite young...maybe 12 or so? He was really good...scary...but good! He must had been really dizzy after his performance because he and his bike, fell over as he was waiting for the guy to open the ball! The next part of the act were 2 guys who were utterly amazing as they performed their part of the show...I was so afraid that they would have an accident while they zoomed past each other in that ball! Then they added another bike to the act...that was even scarier! All one could think of later was how many accidents did it take to accomplish that? The only complaint I had about that part of the show was the exhaust fumes from the bikes...kind of added to the headache already generated from the loud noises!

Final tally of our adventure $150.00 [added 2 pops] divided by 5 = $30.00 per person for entertainment that sucked at it's best! They should rename themselves "Circus Gotcha"!

A side note: Spending time as a family is priceless!


I must also add my thoughts on "Circuses"!

When I was a child I thoroughly enjoyed them!
The animals...the clowns...the magic acts and the dare devil acts!

Now as an adult, I understand the need to shelter their children and the animals involved to that kind of abuse! The audience only gets to see the final product and not the training involved to see this type of entertainment! The adults have the ability to say no but their children and the animals do not!

The children of these people have no choice but to take part in earning their living! These kids learn from an early age how to do this! I understand the circus people's need to train young but is it really fair to their kids? There are organizations out there that demand rights for the animals but are there any out there who demand rights for the kids?

I went on the internet this morning to see if there was anything to be learned about the "Circus Gatti" and found nothing but negativity on them!

Circus Gatti Fact Sheet

Performing captive wildlife — elephants, lions, tigers, bears, baboons, monkeys, camels, llamas — all endure years of physical and psychological pain and suffering in traveling acts to “entertain” an uninformed audience.

Circus Gatti has failed to meet minimal federal standards for the care of animals used in exhibition as established in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cited Circus Gatti for repeatedly failing to provide structurally sound enclosures.

A few years back Dodge had them in town to amuse our citizens. They had animals at that time and the kids did get to see an Elephant, Zebra, Llama and some ponies...live! They also had side shows of snakes, rabbits...etc. When we paid to see the snakes they had this poor bunny in with the snake and we were supposed to watch the snake eat the poor bunny! Thankfully PoD and I raised such a stink that they took the poor bunny out of there but I'm sure it's fate was still to be dinner!

The circus "sucked" back then! To these people all it is a rip off of money with a little bit of poor entertainment.

My comment to these towns is....

Stop fleecing your citizens/visitors by bringing in this type of entertainment just so you can have something where they will blow there money on!

I left yesterday with a bad taste in my mouth for the traveling Circuses!

I hate to see these people lose their only means of earning a wage but they have to come up with something better....

I would pay to see talent done by adults because it alone is a great talent to have.

Leave all animals out of it....

Nature never meant for animals to be forced to perform "tricks" and that includes dogs in dog shows!

I do believe that I will never attend another "Circus Gatti"!