A Day at the Circus from 2009

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A Day At The Circus

This seems like a story I’ve already told but I can’t seem to find it here, so maybe I’ve just told it many times before.

In the early 90’s when I was in Massachusetts, I had an opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream, one I really never had thought about, but when presented with the opportunity, I couldn’t refuse.

I was the Vice President of the Beverly, MA Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber sponsored a circus that was coming to Beverly. This traveling circus (a name that has been lost in time) was on the road close to 250 days a year, and put up and took down the big top every day or two. It was huge by our standards, and lots of fun.

The Head of the chamber was unable to participate on one of the days and asked the President, who could not be there, so they asked me to welcome the people to the circus. This sounds like a normal kind of thing, welcome the people, but not so in the circus. I had to go out with the ringmaster and welcome everyone from the center ring!

There I was, in my big boys clothes (coat and tie I think), standing with a man who was wearing a blue sequined suit, and he handed me the mike. Friends, my wife and daughter were all in the audience, somewhere up in the stands, and I said, “Ladies and Gentleman and Children of all Ages, I am Arthur Greenblatt, Vice President of the Beverly Chamber of Commerce and I would like to welcome you to the circus!

I was surrounded by horses with ladies in exotic costumes and clowns; it was almost like art school!

It was one of my finest days!