The circus brings its magic to Diamond Stadium

By: CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer
Circus Vargas offers performances through Monday | Thursday, March 6, 2008 11:49 PM PST ∞

LAKE ELSINORE ---- No one laughs at a clown like a child does. And their delighted laughter filled the Big Top on Thursday, as Circus Vargas began a five-day stay in the Diamond Stadium parking lot.

The show was filled with acrobatic antics by clowns, jugglers, motorcycle and unicycle riders, trampoline gymnasts and a few animals, namely horses and a huge albino python.

The program included a 20-minute interactive segment before the main performance, with kids joining in by twirling hula hoops, dancing with scarves and balancing long-stemmed peacock feathers on their hands, and falteringly, on their chins.

This is the second year Circus Vargas has come to Lake Elsinore, said Katya Quiroga, a seventh-generation performer and Flying Tabares trapeze artist whose family operates the circus. It is based in Las Vegas, but performs in California, visiting about 40 cities each year, she said.

Circus Vargas has about 27 performers, and about a dozen of them are her family members, Quiroga said.

Jenny Conlon, of Lake Elsinore, brought her children ---- Allyn, 4, Tyler, 2, and Troy, 10 weeks ---- to the circus for the first time and said it was awesome.

Allyn, 4, seemed enthralled as she watched the ring below, eating popcorn, her face sparkling with a newly painted purple butterfly she acquired before the show. Allyn talked about the show all day, especially the clowns, her mom said. Then, when they pulled into the parking lot, she wanted to know if she could throw pies at them, her mom said, laughing.

"I've never seen a clown before," Allyn offered. "I'm going to see one. They have a red nose."

Gary Brueske, of Canyon Hills, said his two children had been talking about it all day, too, and that 2-year-old Rusty thought there would be elephants. But Ashley, 9, said she was quite happy with the tricks and the "twirling clowns" in the absence of elephants, which weren't part of the show.

Dave Cardoza, of Lake Elsinore, said he had expected a few more animals, too, but that his sons Dave, 8 and Cooper, 6, were having a ball.

"It's way different than I remember," he said. "But it's pretty cool."

Young Dave said he didn't mind keeping his distance from the python that some audience members were touching as ringmaster Ted McRay paraded it around.

"I don't want to feel it," he said. "It's kinda scary."

Operators say they vary performances each year.

Quiroga's father, Vittorio Arata, said he has been with Circus Vargas for 29 years and has seen a lot of changes in the old-fashioned fun.

"We change with the times," he said. "We still have clowns, comedy and very skillful acrobatics. It's still exciting, but we make it for young people, too, not just kids. It's for everyone."

The preshow festivities for children were led by Jon Weiss, whose claim to fame includes winning fourth place with fellow clown Al Rios during the 2003 season of the television show "The Amazing Race." Weiss thrilled the audience by balancing a range of things on his chin, culminating with a 15-foot ladder.

According to the Circus Vargas Web site, the company was founded in the late 1960s by Clifford Vargas, who grew up on a farm in Livermore, and became enthralled with the circus that came to town annually. Vargas was especially taken by the Big Top, the Web site states, and today's handmade tent accommodates 1,500 people, contains four miles of rope and cable and takes 30 people about seven hours to put up.

Circus Vargas performances continue through Monday. For information, call (877) 468-3861 or visit www.circusvargas.org.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.