There’s a really nice French restaurant in far North Dallas (Frankford at Preston) called Cadot. It’s run by chef Jean-Marie Cadot, and he has been feeding the Lone Star Circus troupe at Christmas time for a number of years. To let him know how much we appreciate the fabulous food, we put on shows at the restaurant at least once a year.
This year, we got to be part of the restaurant’s 7th anniversary celebration. A lot of really good performers turned out — we had contortionists, clowns, a magician, hula hoop artists, and a couple of jugglers, plus a ringmaster, on stilts or a unicycle. And the talent ranged from 6 to over 60, proving that you can be part of the circus at any age.
It was a lot of fun, and the restaurant patrons in the bar, on the patio, and in the main dining room were treated to some really good performers.
Here are a few photos from the evening. I had a great time! By the way, registration is now underway for Lone Star Circus School’s summer day camps — they’re a fun, low-cost way for any kid to run away and join the circus. You don’t need any special skill. Just show up, and at the end of the week you’ll have some amazing skills and great new friends, too. It’s how I got started in circus!
What a talented group of performers came out to celebrate Cadot’s 7th anniversary!
There were circus performers around every corner at Cadot last night — on the patio, on the red carpet out front, in the bar, in the dining room, in the vestibule. We had a great time — the staff and customers were great.
Claire McFadden brought hula hoops to Cadot last night. She’s also a talented aerialist and contortionist.
Nic Rainone is a great clown. This is him as Zerp, one of his characters. Even when he’s just walking down a hall, he’s strutting like he’s in the center ring. He says as soon as he’s in costume, he’s 100% Zerp, and the show starts right then.
Jeff Lee is a fabulous magician — he does close-up magic as well as stage illusions. If you missed him at Cadot last night, you can see him at the monthly Goofballs Cabaret performances at the Hip Pocket Theater in Dallas.
Lone Star Circus founder Fanny Kerwich is a 7th generation circus performer herself — but when her daughter, Gigi Doyle, is performing (that’s Gigi on the bar — she’s an amazing contortionist and aerialist), Fanny is just like every other mom, and starts taking pictures.
I had a lot of fun performing at Cadot last night. The crowd was very nice, and seemed to enjoy the performances we gave.
Audiences really like it when you do tricks behind your back. This is a two-ball pass — you’re juggling 3, 4, or 5 balls, then take two of them and toss them behind your back, catching them and continuing the pattern in front. It’s one of the tricks I picked up at Circus Smirkus summer camp, and the people at Cadot seemed to like it last night.
Gigi and Garrett Doyle are 8th generation circus performers, and they always put on a great show.
I had never seen Squid the clown, Nic’s partner for last night’s show at Cadot before. They were hilarious.
I’ve said it before: the only problem with being IN a performance with Lone Star Circus is that you don’t get to WATCH the whole show. So naturally, my grandpa caught me peeking around a corner to watch the other performers! I can’t help myself. They are all so good!
We had a fabulous ringmaster last night — Shel Higgins, a juggler who told me to just call him Grandpa. He’s a former street performer and America’s Got Talent alumnus who brought along his stilts and unicycle for the show. You can hire him for events, and you have to see some of the videos he’s got on his website. Amazing stuff!
Kameron Rie Badgers 
Reblogged this on Marketing Where Technology Intersects Life and commented:
This is a blog post by my grandson Kameron Badgers that appeared originally on his blog at http://www.kameronbadgers.com — I am reusing it with his permission.