The circus comes to Wimberley

Watching the circus’ ‘big top’ tent go up is something that has been enjoyed for decades.

Last weekend, performers joined thirty or so crewmembers as the big top for the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus was raised at the Wimberley VFW.

Everyone was working at his or her assigned job.

There were jobs such as pounding in big spikes with three syncopated sledgehammers doing the trick through the hard dirt and stone. This is only way to anchor the soon to be big top to the ground.

The horses were eating hay, the tigers were napping, and the performing dogs were waking up and looking for their master’s attention, along with barking at a new stranger.

“We have been inspected at random, by federal, state and local officials. We’re careful, because if they find wrong doing, the animals would be confiscated,” Leo Acton, the Culpepper and Merriweather’s Tour Guide and a clown in the performance, said.

According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which called the Wimberley VFW asking them not to host the circus, that has happened before to a tiger cub that was under the watch of Culpepper and Merriweather.

However, this is nearly the end for the traveling circus season as it passed through Wimberley. The tour has traveled through 17 western United States, with arrival at their winter home in Hugo, Oklahoma in mid October.

“We’ll travel about fifteen thousand miles when we are through,” Acton said. “We are only in Wimberley one day, and tomorrow (Sunday) we’ll be in Stockdale and Shiner on Monday, we do small rural towns… This has been the highest grossing year so far.”

The crew and performers work eight months out of the year and then have four months off. Some have jobs line up for the winter months, some work for holiday shows. “Once the cold weather hits, you don’t want to be in the big top.”

The circus tours this way every two years and there are two travelling shows, but it won’t be stopping back by the Wimberley VFW. Post Commander John Thompson said they don’t expect to have the circus back in town, a decision PETA lauded in a press release. However, Thompson said PETA’s protest had nothing to do with the canceling of future dates.

“The decision to not have the circus back in the future is simply based on the fact that we looked at this as not only a fun event for the community but also a fundraiser for the Post,” Thompson said. “There was very low attendance, only a small amount of money raised and a lot of advance work by Post members. This alone was the basis of our decision.”