Silver Dollar Fair

We are and have been at the Silver Dollar Fair In Chico, Ca for the last two days.
In spite of the tough economy and really unusually cool weather the attendance has been good. And our audiences have been outrageous. We have a full crew out today though yesterday Princess Cynthia was out as she had a track meet. Actually it was the Northern California finals where she finished 1st in the 100 hurdles...she's going to state!
In spite of her absence the shows yesterday were great. The hard part was the weather. Cooler and windy! Sometimes it was like preforming in a hurricane. Ever tried eating fire in swirling winds? Not easy. Props took flight a couple of time too. Regardless on those things the audiences were fabulous and made every performance worth while.
Today was the same but add an occasional shower. Princess Cynthia was back so our levitation was back in the show. Though all the tricks came across really well the one that seems to be audiences favorite is my "Balloon Sword Swallowing". It's a riot to watch the audience watch me do the stunt.
Even though the weather is cool and windy it hasn't been terrible. The only negative is a sound man who has been with the fair for years. He is one of those guys with an artificial smile and cheer in his voice when he says hi. It's like he practiced it in front of a mirror to hide his true dark side. Over the years him and his very evil-hearted boss (You would agree after 10 seconds with them) have damaged our equipment and tried conning us. Today the rather hefty man with the phony smile (I keep thinking that oldies hit "Smiling Faces, Smiling faces..sometimes don't tell the truth..." ) took one of our speaker cords and slammed it down on the ground thinking no one was watching. (I was right behind him.) I confronted him and he pretended he hadn't done anything. When I asked why he threw it down he denied doing it and walked off. Yes, there are really people like that. What irks me the most is his claim to be a Christian. No wonder Christianity is looked on by some as a group of hypocrites. I am here to tell you that smiling faces who call themselves Christians are not always so...don't blame the church for the fools who claim to be a member. Anyways, we run into people like this from time to time and though they don't make a gig any bit easier they do give me an excellent opportunity to show my kids how not to act.
I have to compliment the fair manager for the acts this year at the fair. There is an awesome marionette puppet group, a ands on science group, a really cool historic blacksmith thingy, a monkey show, a black bear show, and a rattle snake show. There are a couple of local bands the best being Cottonwood. I highly recommend you hiring them if you have a party, fair, festival or other event. They are really nice guys too. Wouldn't be surprised if they were Christians.
For a family at a fair (from a performance perspective) long waits between shows can be a bore. But if you prepare they can be educational. In the past we would visit the animals and ask 4h kids about breeds and rearing. Other times we just go and meet other performers and vendors (Always a good time). Met a lumber jack once...the stories. He told us of his travels and the time during his lumber jack show how he cut through his foot straight on with a long handle ax. He finished the show and went to the hospital. He missed one day but was back at it with bandages under the boot a day later.
Today we visited the an who had the side show tent with the two headed thing. ALIVE! We visited the other circus. We visited the rattle snake show and we strolled the animal pavilion.
More to come...