When the circus comes to town

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When the Kelly-Miller rolls into town, the lot on which the Big Top will be erected is already marked off to indicate where the big tent, the pony rides, the animals and the cookhouse will be placed. Members of the caravan then waste no time unfolding the tent and beginning to set up for that day's shows. (Herald Photo by Jo Ann Hustis)

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MARSEILLES – Lucky Eddie loves telling about the Kelly-Miller Circus of Hugo, Okla.

With a little coaxing, Eddie will tell you his last name is Scradffer, and his home is in Ft. Myers, Fla.

His heart is with the circus, though, with which he travels 8 1/2 months per year, telling thousands of visiting school children about the glories of the Big Top and stories of the animal and human performers.

More than 1,100 ticket purchasers turned out earlier this week for the two performances of the circus in 10-Acre Park on Commercial Street.

Many are clamoring for the circus to return next year, when the city celebrates its 175th anniversary, noted Catherine Strottner, chairman of the family activities committee for the 2010 event.

“People were calling me after the performances, saying they were just happy with the circus, and hoping it would be coming back next year,” she said Wednesday. “I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, about the circus.”

The committee raised $2,200 from the venture in ticket sales. The money will go towards the city’s anniversary celebration next June.

The day the traveling circus appeared in Marseilles, Lucky Eddie played host to about 300 youngsters from the lower grades in area public and parochial schools.

“We were founded in 1938 in Hugo, Okla., the home and winter quarters for three other small circuses, also,” he told the children. “We travel 8 1/2 months a year and put on three shows a day, seven days a week. We travel in 23 states and do over 500 performances annually.”

The 24-hour advance man arrived at the park the day before the circus rolled into town. The advance man spoke to the sponsor, measured out the logistics of the park, located a local water source, and arranged for Dumpster disposal service, hay for the animals, and the services of a veterinarian if necessary.

“Anything like that the show requires, he arranges the day before,” said Scradffer. “When we got here about 7:30 a.m. today, it was all marked off where we were to put the Big Tent, the pony rides, the animals, and our own cookhouse.”

Kelly Miller’s cook staff prepares two meals a day for 55 people with the circus. The cookhouse also serves as the schoolhouse for the 17 children traveling with the show.

"They go to school in our schoolhouse 5 days a week,” he noted. “Our teacher is certified in Oklahoma. When we get back to Hugo in four weeks, the kids will go right back into public school.”

The Kelly-Miller show travels with two electrical generators of its own, which supply power to the lot during the 12 to 13 hours the circus is there.

“We pull more than 3 1/2 miles of electrical cable to the tents and other sites where the circus needs power,” Scradffer said.

Tthe circus moves on seven large semi-trailer trucks, nine small stake trucks, three motor homes owned by Kelly-Miller, and 18 individual motor homes and house trailers belonging to staff and performers.

Made in Italy especially for the Kelly-Miller Circus, the Big Top weights 8,000 pounds.
The circus work crew puts up the flagpoles first for the tent, then go inside to put up the corner poles. Eighty-three stakes are driven into the ground to tie everything together on the Big Top.

One of the circus’s three elephants, Lisa, then enters the tent with her handler to pull up the big center king poles with her enormous bulk.

Each elephant eats three bales of hay per day, and drinks 150 gallons of water.

Four Belgian horses and four ponies also are part of the menagerie of animal performers.
Lastly is the llama, which just comes along for the ride.

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