When the circus came to town

Traditions are important but sometimes when one fades away it isn’t till it is long gone that you wish, somehow, it was still around to enjoy. As I think back to some of the Coulee traditions as a kid, I start to wonder, “What happened to that,” or “I wonder where that went?” So here are some things I miss around here.

During Colorama every year kids could look forward to the carnival. Back in the day, to me, it seemed a lot bigger than it is nowadays. I remember one year it filled the entire Junior High field. Maybe someday we will get back to that kind of excitement, but what I keep thinking about is the parade. Not just the parade in general but one piece that was a constant every year that I recently realized had disappeared or faded away without a notice.

Do you remember the black and red train engine that sat in front of Carlson Motors, near where Jess Ford is now? Well, it used to sit there 364 days a year but on Colorama it went through the parade, and if I remember right it would blow a whistle that caused all to cover their ears. Well, what happened to it? It was or is a piece of my Colorama memory, and I just think it should be back. It is a part of a tradition, at least in my mind it is. At the very least I want to know the story behind the train and what happened to it. So if anyone knows, please share.

The Coulee Queen. It was such a great idea. A riverboat on Banks Lake. I was kind of young still when it took tourists and locals up and down the man made waterway. I never got to actually ride it, and it was only around a few years but I still can picture the big rotating water wheel in the back, churning up water and moving along the lake in between the Coulee Walls. I just think it would be so cool to have a restaurant or a poker tournament like in the movie Maverick on this floating vessel, taking riders from Coulee City to Coulee Playland. Someone told me once that it was too expensive to remove from the water every winter and that is why it is no longer here. Such a shame. It was a great addition while it lasted. Kinda made a kid feel like Tom or Huck to be fishing and see this riverboat come floating by.

OK, I think we can fix this next one. I vividly remember we had a circus every year here on the High School football field. I can remember watching the flying trapeze and the strong man, and I even got to ride an elephant there. I also remember the side shows. There was a bearded lady that stands out to me now that had an oddly familiar hairy chin, a lot like a certain Seekins I know. But the thing I remember most is there was a guy there that drove nails into his head. I am sure, now that I am older, that there was some kind of trick to this, but as a kid I was amazed and still to this day wonder how he did it. I remember the big tent and the tigers and lions that filled it. The clowns were much like the clowns you see today if you travel to one of the bigger circuses, and were the highlight in the tent performance. I think this needs to come back to the area. I would still go see it. I’m just saying.

There are other traditions that need to stick around, too, but here is what I am getting at today. In a world where we can entertain ourselves with phones and apps, sometimes the memories of the way things used to be can warm us and make us wish it still happened. Like a little kid standing on the street watching a parade with his hands over his ears, or two brothers fishing as an old time steamboat flows by, or a group of preschoolers laughing little belly laughs as the clowns entertain them, or the wide eyed amazement as you watch a nail disappear into the skull of a mere human.

We need these traditions. Just like we need air, food and water, we need to be dazzled by a tradition that we can remember for decades to come and one day share with other wide-eyed young ones. So let’s keep the traditions we have going, making them better, but at the same time let us not forget the past and embrace it.