suns along the Mohawk

 follow-up (6PM, Wednesday, July 17, 2013): With a white picket fence, plus many flags and flowers, and a few more flashes of color, the Zoppé circus tent appears outwardly ready for its opening in Schenectady tomorrow.  I’ve added a half dozen images of the final vision to the slideshow.

update: for a peek inside the tent, see our post “fun inside the Zoppé tent“, with the highlights of the early Sunday show.

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– front view of Zoppé tent Tues. evening [L] and Wednesday [R] –

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– Zoppé’s circus tent – Wednesday afternoon – July 17 –

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– of course, there’s still a lot to prepare under the big top –

[original posting:]

Heading up Broadway this afternoon (Tuesday, July 16) for some grocery shopping, I saw that the circus crew was in the process of putting up the Zoppé Family Circus tent in preparation for the 4-day Proctor’s stand that will begin Thursday, July 18.  There will be 8 shows, from Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon.  The circus is at the same location as last year, next to Villa Italia and the Municipal Parking Garage, at Broadway and Hamilton Street. You can get more information at Proctor’s Zoppé webpage.  Last summer, I also stumbled across the newly-erected Zoppé tent, and posted quite a few photos.

Here’s what I saw on Tuesday July 16th:

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– Zoppé circus tent seen Tuesday at 3:30 PM [R] and 8:30 PM [L] –

I stopped to take photos at 3:30 and then coming back from PriceRite at 4:40.  And, I returned just before sunset, between 8 PM and 8:30, when there was a colorful cloud formation in the southern sky, the tent had reached its full size, the crew was working on finishing touches.  They worked hard on a hot and humid summer day.

update (8 AM, July 17): Today’s Gazette has an informative article about the history of the Zoppé circus.  There’s a great quote from Giovanni Zoppé, who leads the circus as Nino the Clown:

  “The artists and the crew, we all work together. We don’t separate ourselves. We’re all just family,” he said. The juggler is just as much a part of the crew as the truck driver is a part of the show.

. share this posting with the short URL: http://tinyurl.com/ZoppeSchdy2013

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– above: pinnacle of the tent seen from the 3rd floor of the Municipal Parking Garage –

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 The slideshow below has photos from all three shooting sessions.

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P.S. My curiosity over the meaning of the word zoppé in Italian got me googling and brought me quite a surprise.  Zoppé or zoppia apparently means lameness in Italian.  As the Smuckers family might say, “with a name like lame, we’ve got to be good.”  There appears to be nothing at all lame about the Zoppé circus.