Giovanni Zoppé is kind of in charge of everything. The permits. The booking. The logisticky, boring of stuff.
But in his 49 years - all spent in his family’s circus - he says that he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
“I joke now...I’m 49 years old and I still never left home. I’m still here with my family and I have zero intention of going anywhere.”
Except for the one summer in his early 20s when Giovanni made trestles for houses. He didn’t last too long before he returned to his circus of a family.
But where he returned was literally a circus. The Zoppé clan has been in the circus biz for almost two centuries, and Giovanni can trace his circus roots all the way back to Italy.
In the performances this weekend, he plays the Red clown. He represents the audience in his traditional circus style. The white clown is his foil, acting is an emcee of sorts.
When I track down Giovanni he is unloading some props from a truck in the rain.
Props like a slide, and a miniature hot air balloon that a dog jumps out of as it floats in the air.
Even as he unloads things in the pouring rain, Giovanni says they will never delay or postpone a show. Even when his circus ring is covered in knee-deep water, like it was one time in Chicago.
“...and we did a show in front," says Zoppe. "Just in the front, but we still did a show. The show must go on! We don’t cancel any shows!
Audiences can see that flying dog and the rest of the Zoppe family this weekend in Snowmass.
