Big top fun

By Ethan Nahté

There are times a journalist goes to get an interview and some clown shows up to assist. In this case, that’s a good thing, because the clown in the Culpepper & Merriweather Great Combined Circus is Leo Acton, who has been a clown in at least a couple of different circuses since 2009. And before you disparage a circus clown as some undereducated bum who ran away from home to join the circus, Acton speaks at least three languages, including different dialects such as Parisian French and Canadian French.

Acton was providing details to the families who arrived to watch the big top being lifted into place for the Circus to put on a pair of shows at the Polk County Fairgrounds on Monday, March 20. Mena was the Circuses first Arkansas show of their eight-month season. They are based out of Hugo, Oklahoma.

Part of what Acton tells the families as their acting tour guide: “The tent itself is manufactured in six panels for the top. We break it apart into thirds. It’s 110 feet long. It’s 80 feet wide. It’s 30 feet tall at its crest.

“We can comfortably seat 600 patrons in just our seats alone. We have a large set of aluminum bleachers as well as lowrise wooden bleachers that go around the curve of the big top. You’re never more than 40 feet from the center of the ring. There’s not really a bad seat in the house.

Delilah and Wendell waiting for toys and treats at the C&M Circus.

See photos on pages 14-15. More photos will be in an album on the Pulse Facebook page. (Ethan Nahté/ Pulse)

See CIRCUS continued on page 10