THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
What is believed to be the first-ever circus camp in Fort Smith, and possibly the first in the entire territory, will begin later this month.

Alberta’s Bob Palmer – a 30-year veteran as a circus performer – is going to be an instructor at what is believed to be the first-ever circus camp in Fort Smith. - photo courtesy of Bob Palmer

"What an amazing opportunity," said Cynthia White, community services program co-ordinator with the Town of Fort Smith.

White is not aware of anything like the circus camp ever happening before in Fort Smith or the NWT.

"So we’re pretty excited to give it a go," she said.

The four-day camp, set for March 30 to April 2, will teach youngsters aged eight to 14 numerous circus skills, such as peacock feather balancing, plastic plate spinning, ball juggling and scarf juggling, and more challenging things like walking on stilts, tightrope walking and balancing on a rola bola board, which is a cylinder with a piece of wood on top.

Camp instructor Bob Palmer says camp participants will also be introduced to unicycle riding.

"Unicycle is by far the hardest skill," he said. "If anybody can ride the unicycle 10 feet or 20 feet, I’ll be extremely impressed."

Palmer has been a circus performer and teacher for close to 30 years, including some appearances in Yellowknife.

"I’ve done my own Flying Bob Circus Show all over the world and I still continue to travel and tour," he said, referring to his one-man performances.

He is based in Sylvan Lake, Alta.

"I’m assuming that most of the kids have never tried these skills before. So that’s always fun," he said.

"Whenever I do these camps it reminds me of the first time I learned how to do all the skills too, and how excited I got when I started understanding what I was doing. So we’re going to be teaching really, really basic up to some quite difficult skills and there’ll be a whole range of challenges."

Palmer said his first camp in the NWT will hopefully be the start of something new, and might even lead to more camps in other communities.

"So this will be kind of like a test," he said. "I love going up North, so I would love to continue this."

While never having presented a circus camp in the NWT before, he did hold one last year in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

Nine-year-old Olie Johnson and his 11-year-old brother Finn Johnson are signed up for the circus camp in Fort Smith, and both say they are looking forward to it.

"I want to learn new skills, like maybe unicycling or juggling," said Olie.

Finn is also focused on the unicycle.

"I really want to learn how to ride a unicycle, because I want to ride a unicycle to school," he said, adding he tried to learn once before. "But I didn’t do very well."

Plus, Finn also wants to learn how to walk on a tightrope.

The boys’ father, Kris Johnson, said he is also excited a circus camp is coming to Fort Smith.

"It’s awesome," he said. "It’s got strength. It’s got endurance. It teaches showmanship."

Like his sons, Johnson is also particularly excited the camp will have unicycles.

"I’ve tried it about two or three times in various conditions and I’ve never succeeded yet," he said of riding a unicycle. "Maybe I can learn from my sons."

Palmer said the camp in Fort Smith, which will be hosted at the Rec Centre, can accommodate up to 40 youngsters.

However, White is hoping for about 20.

"For a community our size, I think that’s a great number," she said.

White admits to being a bit nervous about how many children will be signed up, even though 11 had registered as of March 12.

"We do need to charge the participants, which we were hoping we would not have to do, just to offset some of the costs," she said of the $100 fee per participant.

That fee is necessary to help cover the $12,000 to $15,000 cost of bringing in the camp, which is also being supported by corporate sponsors and the Town of Fort Smith.

"I feel like we’re going to get a good number of kids to really make it a fun and exciting experience," said White.

In fact, she said participants would be welcomed from elsewhere for the camp, which will be held over spring break.

"We’d love to have kids from other communities like Hay River or the Hay River Reserve or Fort Res," she said. "If there are kids who are interested and they can get themselves here, we’re happy to have them join us for this fun experience."

White said if the circus camp goes well this year, the Rec Centre will work on having it back every year.

As for what kids will take away from the camp, Palmer believes learning such a unique set of skills can pay dividends.

"What that does is build self-esteem and confidence and you can also be very, very proud of anything you learn in a circus camp," he said. "Almost nobody else can do these skills."

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