{"id":121870,"date":"2014-02-04T00:53:01","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T07:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-look-backstage-at-a-traveling-circus\/"},"modified":"2014-02-04T00:53:01","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T07:53:01","slug":"a-look-backstage-at-a-traveling-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-look-backstage-at-a-traveling-circus\/","title":{"rendered":"A look backstage at a traveling circus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"An
An Asian elephant with The Jordan World Circus checks out the Montezuma County Fairgrounds on Monday.<\/span>Tobie Baker\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Jordan World Circus always packs the Montezuma County Fairgrounds when the traveling circus stops in town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe circus has been coming here for years,\u201d said Montezuma County Fairground manager Tanner Young. \u201cThey do a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

In previous years, an estimated 700 people attend each of two performances in Cortez, Young said. He and his crew worked over the weekend in preparation for 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. shows on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came in and rolled the ground to get it ready,\u201d Young said Monday morning, standing atop a packed dirt surface. \u201cToday, we\u2019re running the lifts to help them set up for their high-wire acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s amazing is they take all day to set up, but then they\u2019ll have it all tore down in about an hour-and-a-half,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Taking a moment from a frenzied state of setting up the arena, circus manager Dieter Galambos said the crew arrived in Cortez last night after performing shows in Vernal, Utah, over the weekend. They started unloading gear at 7:30 a.m. on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe three ring mats go out first,\u201d Galambos explained.<\/p>\n

As ponies, a zebra and a camel were brought into the arena, Young and his crew helped circus performers establish a secure connection for one of the acrobat acts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow tall is the ceiling?\u201d a performer asked.<\/p>\n

Galambos immediately rummaged through a grey box to search for a laser measuring tape.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re checking to see if our human canon is going to fit in here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As a three-man crew worked to stretch three center ring tarps taut, three elephants fed on bales of hay. Soon after, several cages of tigers were wheeled inside the arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haul meat in freezers with us to feed the tigers,\u201d Galampos said.<\/p>\n

One crewmember said the best part of working with the circus is the opportunity to travel across the country for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go everywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As he worked to set up lighting, the crewman said the worst part of the circus was training new crewmembers how to properly set up for the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t count to seven?\u201d he yelled across the arena. \u201cC\u2019mon man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how long it takes to set up for the show, Galambos replied, \u201cWay too long today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to keep showing them how to do it,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s a new crew, but usually two or three hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the fairgrounds, Young routinely works with horses and cattle throughout the year for various rodeos. He said the most enjoyable aspect of the circus is seeing more exotic animals, like tigers and elephants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst part of the show is running the skids to clean out all of the elephant manure,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not very fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the last performance on Monday, the traveling circus will break down, pack up and head to the next town. Next stop, Farmington, N.M., for two days of shows.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018What\u2019s amazing is they take all day to set up, but then they\u2019ll have it all tore down in about an hour-and-a-half\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[624,60,2346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-121870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-lifestyle-and-leisure","tag-montezuma-county","tag-people-profiles"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121870"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=121870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}