the circus is coming to town!

In our fair city, when we think of the word circus, images of lions, tigers and bears (insert mild exclamatory statement of your choice here) do not come to mind, but instead this is the visage we see:

Gregory May, or "Circus Greg" as he's referred to by my children, is an amazing fixture in our lovely town, having worked with the city's Recreation Department for several years, running a Circus Camp during days that school is closed, spring break and summer vacation. He also performs huge crowd-pleasing shows at our city events, such as the Halloween parade and the Labor Day Festival. Basically, if there's a kid- or family-oriented event in the city of Greenbelt, you can count on my kids looking for Circus Greg.

JAM has been extremely fortunate enough to have attended Circus Camp for the last couple summers, and it's his absolute favorite two weeks of the entire year. A few weeks ago, I publicly praised Greg in my Greenbelt Patch column, out of sincere appreciation for the joys that he has brought to our oldest's summers.

This summer, for the first time ever, Greg and his mother Betty who works with him in the program, have worked to create the Greenbelt Youth Circus, which is a three-week long session that will be a bit more intense than the traditional two-week sessions, all focused on preparing for the actual community performances at the end of the three weeks. The awesome thing? The show is open to everyone, and there will be three performances! If you don't have a clue what to expect from a "Youth Circus," let me reassure you that it's much more than you probably can imagine... but take a look at this video for an idea:

I can't encourage you enough to see one of these performances. Come support this incredible effort to bring a unique experience to our community's children, a camp like no other.

Here are all the details you need:

• The City of Greenbelt presents the Greenbelt Youth Circus' performance of "Inspiration"
• Greenbelt Community Center, 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD
• 8/19/11, 7:00 pm
• 8/20/11, 4:00 pm
• 8/20/11, 7:00 pm
• Tickets are FREE, but reserving seats is recommended by calling 301-397-2208, M-F 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

We're planning on attending the opening night show, ready to cheer on the performers and to congratulate Greg and Betty on a job well done. The circus is coming to town!! Get your tickets now!!


Joyfully yours,