circus spectacle, now and then
On Sunday we went to Milwaukee to see The Great Circus Parade for the second time. The first time was more than a decade ago, and the parade hasn't taken place since something like 2003. The parade is a Milwaukee specialty; the resurrection of old-tyme spectacle for the pleasure of a web-wowed, Guitar Hero-playing middle American audience is somehow heartwarming. And there just really isn't any screen-based equivalent to the tension one feels in the presence of a full ten-horse team pulling a massive bandwagon over hard pavement. But that only comes after the old cars and bicycles.
But the best (or worst) had to be the creepy but still fun old-skool 'International' section. Yes, that would be the wagons displaying the 'exotic' peoples. Disturbing and ridiculous. Offensive but strangely charming. Let me be the first to say: I really hope political-correctness never erases this part.
The biggest disappointment of the day? No forty-horse team.
