The circus comes to town Published June 23, 2008 By Airman 1st Class Ryan Whitney Nellis AFB Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- More than 400 Nellis and Creech Airmen and dependents packed into the base theater for a performance by members of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus June 20. The circus members visited the base before performing downtown in Las Vegas to show their support to the military by entertaining Airmen and their families, and to provide people the opportunity to record video messages that they can send to deployed loved ones around the world. Eight clowns wowed the packed theater audience with acts varying from balancing items, juggling, acrobatics and comedy that would be expected from the circus that calls itself "the greatest show on Earth." After introducing all the clowns, the show began with a juggling act, which ultimately concluded after two clowns juggled six pins around five brave audience volunteers. After that they followed up with a comedic unicycle act and juggling skit routine before bringing out the big guns, in the form of muscle suits, and challenged more than 20 children to a tug-of-war after entertaining the audience with a humorous acrobatic performance. After the performance, families then went up one after the other to record messages to deployed family members. Some of the messages even included the clowns. The clowns performed downtown at the Orleans Arena for the remainder of the weekend, along with the rest of the circus crew.
