Carson & Barnes Circus Tent Opening In Strong Winds

I've worked in show business for 30+ years and have "The show must go on" in my blood.  But there are times when the show at least should be delayed. Here's an example apparently from the 7:30 show in Angleton, TX at the Carson & Barnes Circus from "Laura Cucagirl Solis" on Facebook:

Well so much for having a good time at the circus ... the whole tent started collapsing here is a video of what I caught

Posted by Laura Cudagirl Solis on Friday, April 17, 2015

Thankfully, according to a local media report, no one was injured, but severe weather was predicted for the Angleton area yesterday, and in fact there's reports of pretty significant hail from the SPC, including this one that (if I'm doing the UTC time conversion right) was 10 minutes after the show start time:

0040 250 ANGLETON BRAZORIA TX 29179543 EGG TO TENNIS BALL SIZED HAIL IN ANGLETON.

Apparently the tent structure survived fine, but this was certainly a scary event for the audience, and it seems to me that the ringmaster should have held the show, addressed the issue, and initiated a pre-determined action plan.  I was nervous too with an acrobat in the air when the tent structure was most certainly moving a lot and rain was entering the tent.

I've written a so many blog posts about severe weather and show safety that I have a whole category on them (click here to see).