Carson & Barnes Circus Big Top proved no match for the high desert’s big winds Monday, shredding the famous tent with gusts up to 50 miles and hour and forcing the cancellation of both the 4 pm and 7 pm performances.
It was the first time in over a decade the famed Oklahoma based circus made a scheduled performance in Wendover, unfortunately with disastrous consequences.
According to roustabouts the Big Top sustained damage in the thousands of dollars and would have to undergo days of repair.
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“Its pretty safe once every thing is tied down and secured,” said one tent worked. “But when we are raising the canvas its like we are putting up a football field sized kite. And that is what happened Monday. No one warned us about these winds.”
While the circus suffer a hit to its pocket book and perhaps its pride no serious injuries were reported during the mishap. That was not the case last week when equally strong gust were cited as the a major factor in the crash of a small plane that left four people dead at the Wendover Airport.
According to Airport director Jim Peterson the pilot radioed, into our operations building that he was going to be landing and wanted fuel. The plane then crashed 300 to 400 feet north of the runway.
“We have some pretty stiff winds out there. There was a crosswind compliment to it, definitely and he probably had difficulty with it,” Peterson said.
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Winds gusts at the Utah Department of Transportation’s Port of Entry were clocked at 45 mph or higher at the time of the crash and a travel advisory for high profile vehicles had been put into effect shortly before the fatal crash.
The pilot and all three passengers died on impact.
Killed in the plane crash were the pilot, Lincoln Marshal Dastrup, 57 years old, from Salt Lake City; Chad A. Wade, 38 years old, from South Jordan; and Justin Michael Yates, 37 years old, from Lehi; Harish Parashar, a 53 year old male from India.
Carson & Barnes Circus is a privately owned fifth generation family business.
The performances are held under the canvas of the ‘big top’ almost the size of a football field. Logistically, Carson & Barnes Circus is the world’s largest self-contained nomadic city with approximately 50 vehicles, including a power plant (electricity), restaurant (cook house) which serves approximately 500 meals per day for approximately 150 personnel, as well as living quarters and other essential daily needs. Carson & Barnes Circus, spanning eight decades, has performed for over 50 million people in the forty-three of the contiguous states, from the smallest towns to the major markets, and has been the vehicle for thousands of nonprofit organizations to realize cash infusions of millions of fund raising dollars.
Miller Equipment Company provides the necessary support in terms of vehicles, maintenance and transportation. The Endangered Ark Foundation is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) concern dedicated to the controlled breeding, life, welfare and longevity of various endangered species, including, but not limited to, elephants. Several hundred acres tangent to the Carson & Barnes winter quarters in Hugo were subordinated to the Foundation.