Circus aims to do more than entertain

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For the past 29 years, the Caravan Youth Center has brought in the classic family spectacle of laughing clowns with painted faces and big red noses, trained tigers performing tricks, costumed trapeze artists twisting and spinning through the air and jugglers tossing brightly colored balls ­— the circus — to Breslin Center.

The nonprofit corporation was founded in 1957, and since that time, has been composed of dedicated volunteers aiming to provide financial support for youth-related activities.

The organization hires the Royal Hanneford Circus and rents Breslin Center each year to provide entertainment and raise money for numerous charities, said Ed Purchis, the secretary treasurer with the Caravan Youth Center.

“We do it because we’re volunteers, and we’re interested in helping money into youth-related activities in the Greater Lansing area,” Purchis said. “It’s a charity thing, it really is … Really, what we are is we’re a circus with a purpose.”

The circus performed five shows during the weekend that featured, along with the circus classics, a group of trained dogs called the Royal Afghan Champions and the show’s youngest performer, a baby elephant named Baby Bell.

The shows benefited six different local charities, including 75 cents from each ticket at specific shows to the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing, Child Abuse Prevention Services, Masonic Learning Centers for Children and YMCA Camps: Camp Pa-Wa-Pi and Mystic Lake Camp.

In addition to these charities, Ronald McDonald House of Mid-Michigan received 10 cents from each ticket sold throughout the weekend and Child and Family Services Capital Area received 50 cents from each animal ride ticket sold.

The show featured volunteers serving as clowns, ushers and various other roles. Each of these volunteers was credited with $3.50 per hour that they could donate to any charity they chose. One such volunteer was Bruce Gates, a clown and MSU alumnus.

“Anytime I get to come to Michigan State, I take the opportunity because I went here,” he said.

The Caravan Youth Center has held the circus at Breslin Center annually since 1981, but did not host the event in 2009, when MSU decided to take time to evaluate the treatment of animals in entertainment on the campus.

Although the corporation could have hosted the circus anyway, it could not have included animals, which Purchis said just wouldn’t work.

“A circus without animals is not a circus,” he said.

As a result of its research, MSU reapproved the animals for this year’s circus, but there still were animal rights protests before the circus arrived and outside Breslin Center during the weekend. These groups were hoping to have the circus banned from campus.

“These animals are probably treated better than our house pets,” Purchis said. “They’re (the circus performers’) livelihood, and why would people abuse their livelihood?”

In addition to the charity benefits, Purchis said the Caravan Youth Center likes to sponsor a circus in the Lansing area so children can see good, old-fashioned entertainment.

“A lot of the young people are not exposed to live performances,” he said.

“They’re used to seeing it on the television or their computer, and we think it’s important that they have an opportunity to see these animals — to see them, to smell them — and see these people perform, whether they’re walking the tightrope, whether they’re flyers doing somersaults in the air. And we think it’s important to continue that legacy that’s been going on for 100-plus years.”

Joe Tomczyk of St. Johns said he came to the circus and brought his granddaughter, Rian, to continue a long-running family tradition.

“We’ve been doing this for years,” he said. “(It’s) kind of a neat family thing. We used to do it with our kids; now we do it with our grandkids.”

Frank and Jenny Allen of Mason also brought their 5-year-old grandson, Tommy, to experience the circus to “see him smile,” Frank Allen said.

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