DIXFIELD – Early Tuesday morning, a small family circus with trained animals and flashily dressed, skilled performers came to Dixfield to wow, thrill and educate.
The Walker Brothers Circus of Sarasota, Fla., accomplished those tasks, judging from the reception it got from large crowds attending two 90-minute performances, despite sweltering heat, humidity and the onset of rain showers during the first show.
“This is a big deal for Dixfield,” said resident Leslie Skibitsky between shows. She and her daughter Meredith walked to the event at Bob Welch’s Mountain View Campground off Route 142.
“It’s a nice thing in a summer evening. There are not many times in Welch’s field that you have to ride an elephant,” Leslie Skibitsky added, while watching children ride a 33-year-old, 9,000-pound Indian Asian elephant named Lisa.
Lisa and Kelly, a 30-year-old Indian Asian elephant, attracted crowds before, during and in between the two shows.
Elephant superintendent Louie Del Moral of Nokomis, Fla., said the female elephants are two of 30 elephants owned by Miller Equipment Co. of Oklahoma.
Del Moral, a third-generation elephant handler, said he was employed by the Oklahoma outfit, which was contracted by the circus for this year’s shows.
“The success I have with the elephants is from spending time with them,” Del Moral said.
“They’re so intelligent, but they can be manipulative. They’re on the level of a 5- to 6-year-old child. But once they understand you, you don’t have any problems,” he added.
The only “problems” seemed to be from youngsters overcoming their fear of the large beasts that contentedly “mowed” Welch’s field, pulling up chunks of grass with their trunks and stuffing it into their mouths.
Twelve-year-old Dylan Gallant of Rumford said Tuesday was the first time he’d ever seen an elephant up close, let alone ridden one.
Of the ride, he said, “It was weird, and it was kind of scary, because when it moves, it shakes a lot. It weighs 9,000 pounds.”
His 8-year-old sister Claudia, along with Britny Belskis, 15, of Mexico, and Breanna McLaughlin, 13, of Pittsfield, concurred that the ride felt weird.
But, McLaughlin said, “Every child should try it.”
“What about us adults?” asked Barbara Newton of Pittsfield.
“You’d be scared,” McLaughlin said.
Newton and her sister Sue Lavoie of Mexico, who, with Newton, brought their nieces and nephews to the circus, reminisced about her first ride on an elephant.
“I was 13 and it was in Mexico, and I tell you, that was an experience coming from a little girl’s eyes. I’ll never forget it,” Lavoie said.
Neither would the sellout crowd of about 1,200 people at the first show forget the circus experience, judging from their reactions and applause to acts that included prancing ponies, elephants and dog acts, trapeze artists and a juggler/trampoline comedy act that produced uproarious laughter.
“It’s such a great positive turnout,” said circus volunteer Barbara Moore of Bath, a member of Circus Fans of America.
“I hope they come back next year,” she added.
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