The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 18

B6 The Ottawa Citizen, Sunday, June 13, 1993 The word circus comes from a Latin word for circle or ring! What happened to the human cannonball at the circus? He got fired! Q. Where do tight rope walkers learn to walk the tight rope? At high school. (Both jokes were submitted by Kenneth Lancastle of Kanata.) What is brown, hairy, and wears sunglasses? A coconut on vacation. (Submitted by Marie Carbonnell of Cornwall.) What happened when the bee telephoned his friend? got a buzzy signal. (Submitted by Ashley McAllister of Cornwall.) The circus is coming, the circus is coming! 4 Circus shows used to be held in tents.

The main acts were performed in the largest tent called the big top. In the big top, three acts went on at the same time in three different rings. Now, most circuses are held inside arenas. Smaller circuses often still perform in tents set up in the parking lots of shopping malls. 4 Often, circus acts are performed by many relatives from one family.

Performers teach their children the act who then carry on the tradition when they grow up. Sometimes, aunts, uncles and cousins are also involved. The Wal-lendas are a famous circus family who performed a spectacular high-wire act. Part of it required seven members of the family to stand on each other's shoulders and then walk along the wire! Canada's most famous circus is Le Cirque du Soleil, which was created in Montreal in 1984. It doesn't have any animals but that doesn't mean it's not exciting.

The acrobats, jugglers and high-wire performers put on a thrilling show as they perform daring tricks that require a lot of strength and agility. In the past, the circus has featured an act in which 10 acrobats balance on one moving bicycle! 4 Have you ever been to the circus? Well, you may have an opportunity to go this summer. The Shriner's Circus is coming to St. Laurent Shopping Centre Aug. 13 to 15.

The circus has been around for thousands of years. In ancient Greece, men stood on the bare backs of two horses and raced around a track The Romans went to the circus to watch men fight wild animals. Eventually, these shows became so cruel they were stopped for good. 4 Fools, buffoons and jesters were funny characters with the job of making kings and queens laugh by acting silly. They wore colorful costumes and jingly bells and looked a lot like the clowns that are an important part of circuses today.

Clowns are always eager to make you laugh with their silly costumes and funny tricks. Sometimes they ride around on a tiny bike, or try to squeeze into a miniature car. They love to juggle things (like shoot water pistols, and stumble and tumble all over the place. A man named Philip Astley is considered to be the inventor of the circus we know today. He performed tricks on the backs of horses as he rode quickly around a ring.

People loved his show so much he eventually added new attractions such as tightrope walkers and dancing dogs. 4 Soon others caught onto the idea and it wasn't long before circuses were popping up in big cities in North America, England, Europe and Russia. The Moscow State Circus in Russia is one of the most famous in the world. 1 VO" i (fvWi I iLaura Menchini Age 10 Jason Shaver Age 8 3 Steve Slack Age 10 Si t. Jessica Borutski Age 9 By Simone Dolan ait on your own circus act rwith these easy-to-make finger puppets.

1 your own creatures or characters on a piece of lightweight cardboard or bristol board. 2. Color them in with bright colors and then cut the figures out. 3. Cut thin bands of cardboard about 10 centimetres wide and long enough to wrap around We'll soon have a page on baseball.

Do you play? Send us your colorful drawings. You've worked hard at school all year. Kids' page would like to receive the best creative writing you did at school (or at home). If you've written a poem or short story of which you are proud, send it to us and we'll run a whole page. If you have a photo of yourself, send it along, too.

Send your jokes, colorful drawings and letters to: The Kids' page, The Ottawa Citizen, 1101 Baxter Road, Box 5020, Ottawa, Ont. K2C3M4 If we use your stuff on the page, we'll send you a Kids' page magnetic photo frame. Please put your name, age, telephone number and full address, including postal code, on everything you send in. '3 your fingers. 4.Tape each ring shut.

Now tape a ring onto the back of each figure and you're ready to start the show! -1.