Dec, 30th 2017: An end of year surprise for the kids. Boulevard Circus – Bahrain launch. Kids love the circus, or did. The days of the big top Russian masterpieces and Billy Smart, the all time showman seem to be a thing of the past, but obviously there are still a lot of the old Eastern Block performers ready to strut their wonderful stuff. A love for entertaining the kids and obviously an eye for a niche in the market, Mr. Fawaz Baqer went out and bought a circus which he has opened in Bahrain. The Boulevard Circus will start its tenure in Bahrain, moving around the Gulf Countries and back again one assumes.
This circus has the regular clowns, acrobats, magicians, knife throwers and so on, but NO ANIMALS, yet! Baqer seems adamant that no wild animals should ever be caged or used in his circus. For that alone, the population should back him and the reason Who Does What decided to cover the event. He has expressed the possibilities of using domestic dogs and the like. Well even so, if they are treated well, they love to perform.
The circus in Bahrain has not been the most popular of entities over the years. Several came and went and most had to leave their animals behind which were found to be kept in horrendous condition. This definitely upset the large expatriate community who by and large boycotted the circus anyway because animals were used in the first place. In this part of the world, animals are not always that well cared for, or liked for that matter, but Bahrain has a rapidly growing fraternity who certainly do care about animals and the movement is active. Old habits die hard, so one assumes still a good few folk will be looking for wild animals performing. Not in this circus.
Next door to this Circus is a Dolphin Park or Dolphin Resort which according to a report in the Local paper (GDN) has been ordered to close. Unfortunately, not because of the quite vocal opposition to keeping dolphins in captivity, but because the building which houses them is crumbling and the government want to revamp the corniche. The Capital Governor gave the circus the go ahead on that adjacent plot of land, before the announcement. Maybe H.E. Shaikh Hisham knew something and thought about replacing the dolphins with the circus. Good move if so.
