{"id":7073,"date":"2022-04-01T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T13:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=7073"},"modified":"2025-06-28T21:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T01:01:07","slug":"the-circus-is-back-in-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/04\/01\/the-circus-is-back-in-town\/","title":{"rendered":"The Circus Is Back in Town!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It has been over two years since Aroostook County has received a visit from any circus shows. \u201cIt\u2019s really just a sad thing,\u201d Ray Rice, President of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, said. \u201cMy wife and I would always bring our daughter and make a really nice day of it.\u201d Rice says that Spring 2022, however, has something big in store for the county. \u201cI\u2019m bringing the circus back!\u201d Rice exclaimed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Elephants and ballerinas performing at the Dingling and Bros. distant cousin’s show, Ringling and Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dingling Bros. and Farnum & Hailey Circus, based out of Nunya, ME, is a small circus touring company. Their act includes three lion tamers up against four big cats; two elephants accompanied by ballerinas who perform on their backs; and a sword swallower. \u201cThese performers are really next level,\u201d Rice explained. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to get them here.\u201d Hotel capacities are at their highest during the weekend of UMPI\u2019s graduation the second weekend of May. So Rice decided that he would open his campus to the carnies, whose show starts the same week. \u201cI\u2019ve met these people,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are some of the nicest, kindest people I have ever met. I couldn\u2019t be happier to host them.\u00a0 I know that the students of UMPI will enjoy getting to know them just as much as I have.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Dingling and Bros. group will be staying in the vacant dorm rooms on UMPI\u2019s campus for the duration of their show\u2019s schedule. Ricky Goupille, a second-year student at UMPI, lives off campus but spends his free time with friends in the dorms. He says that he is mostly excited, but nervous about the animals. \u201cI guess the lions and elephants are going to be kept near where the old wind turbine was on campus,\u201d he said. \u201cWhich is pretty far from campus buildings.\u00a0 But still. What if the lions break free? I have friends that could get eaten! That\u2019s my only reservation.\u201d He said that having carnies in the dorm halls will make campus life more interesting for the length of the stay. \u201cThe dorms are quiet,\u201d he said. \u201cWhich isn\u2019t a bad thing, because after all we\u2019re here to study.\u00a0 But I\u2019m ready for some excitement and new faces. Especially during finals week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rice hopes his optimism about this unlikely event will inspire his students. \u201cI\u2019m letting the Dingling and Bros. stay here free of charge,\u201d he said. \u201cIn exchange for them to teach me how to ride a unicycle. Part of the deal is for them to also offer students lessons if they\u2019re interested in learning with me.\u201d Several students, including Goupille, have already expressed interest in these lessons. \u201cReally, I think this event will not only draw a big crowd,\u201d Rice said. \u201cBut it will also teach a lot of people how to unicycle.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For more information about show dates and ticket prices, please visit: www.thisstoryisnottrue.com . <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It has been over two years since Aroostook County has received a visit from any circus shows. \u201cIt\u2019s really just a sad thing,\u201d Ray Rice, President of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, said. \u201cMy wife and I would always bring our daughter and make a really nice day of it.\u201d Rice says that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8176,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7073\/revisions\/8176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}