Rising to the Top : Circus Vargas’ Oxnard Stop Creates New Memories, Revives Old Ones

As the lights in the Big Top circus tent dimmed, trapeze artist Rebecca Perez climbed.

Clad in a pale yellow leotard, Perez quickly scaled a rope to mount a swing near the pinnacle of the tent. Then, hanging high above the crowd, she danced, flinging her body into midair splits, flips and twirls.

In the audience below, anxious children crouched close to their parents. One boy dug his head deep into the crook of his father’s arm.

But most in the audience at Circus Vargas in Oxnard--one of only two Ventura County locations where the circus is performing this year--just sat still and looked, heads tilted back, eyes trained upward to follow Perez’s dangerous stunts.

Mary Depaolo said she came to the circus to share the experience with her young daughter and to relive her own childhood memories.

“You have to go into the circus when it’s in town, have to,” the 34-year-old Port Hueneme resident said. “I have fuzzy memories when I was a kid of looking up high.

“And besides, I haven’t had cotton candy in 20 years.”

Circus Vargas usually comes to the county early in the year, often visiting Simi Valley or other east county cities in addition to Oxnard and Ventura.

But this year the show bypassed the east county and is making Oxnard the last stop in its tour of about 90 locations in California and Nevada. After spending four days at the county fairgrounds in Ventura at the beginning of this month, the circus moved last weekend to Oxnard, where it will continue through Sunday.

Like its bigger and more famous counterparts, Circus Vargas regales its audiences with daredevil trapeze artists, animal tamers and elephant riders.

But unlike some of its rivals, Circus Vargas pitches its own tents, which allows performances in smaller towns.

“You will never see this circus go in an arena,” Marketing Director Ross Yukawa said.

Indeed, founder Clifford Vargas launched the circus in 1969 as a response to Ringling Bros.’ decision that year to begin performing exclusively in indoor stadiums, Yukawa said.

Because Circus Vargas still stages its shows under a Big Top pitched on a dirt field, visitors may get their feet dirty before they reach their bleacher seats.

And they may feel chilly in the night air. But they also have a good chance of sitting much closer to the circus ring than they would at an indoor amphitheater.

Linda and Ruben Guardado and their son were among the dozens of people at a show this week who sat in the ringside seats that butt up against the stage.

For 5-year-old Ruben Jr., the evening was a real treat, but the seats may have been a bit too close.

Disabled since birth by respiratory problems that have caused him to be hospitalized repeatedly, the little boy had never before been to a circus or any live event.

“Little things like this are a big, big luxury for us,” Linda Guardado said.

When the first act came on--Kay Rosaire and her pack of seven Bengal tigers and African lions--Ruben crawled onto the lap of his father, who sat one row back from the ring.

“He was starting to cry at first, but once we held him he was a little bit better,” the boy’s father said.

Another parent at the show said her son also used to get scared at the circus. But 4-year-old Aaron Wenner was afraid of the clowns, not the animals.

“Some of them have sad faces and it scares him,” Aaron’s mother, Connie Wenner, said.

To combat this fear, Wenner dressed her son as a clown for Halloween to show him that the frowning faces are done with makeup.

The ploy apparently worked: When Circus Vargas clown Manny Valdo shimmied up poles, rode bicycles and performed other stunts between acts, a grinning Aaron stood up from his seat to get a better look.

“He said he wasn’t scared,” his mother said.

FYI

Circus Vargas will be in Oxnard at Ventura Road and 7th Street through Sunday. Show times are 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. today; 12:30, 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 12:30, 3 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Ticket prices run from $4 to $10 for children and $7.50 to $16.50 for adults. Tickets may be purchased at the circus, at Centerpoint Mall in Oxnard, or be charged by phone at 486-5979. Discount coupons for children’s tickets are available from certain local retail stores. For information, call 486-5979.