View our video coverage of Bread and Puppet's summer 2008 CircusView our video coverage of Bread and Puppet's summer 2008 Circus
 |
 n event
such as the Bread & Puppet offers some extraordinary
sights and experiences. Anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000
people come to the Glover site. A lot could be classed as
being under 18, a situation that has resulted in the
local Vermont State Trooper Barracks being inundated with
phone calls from worried parents all over the country. It
is said that one concerned parent demanded that a state
police helicopter be sent up over the puppet site to
"page" his lost off spring! Now come now..that
is NOT the Vermont way!The 1997 event had been billed in some quarters as the biggest drug fest of the year. While this did not seem to be the case, people selling what the authorities like to call "paraphernalia" were in evidence. The latest craze seems to be Pyrex pipes, especially the ones sporting "carbholes." According to the cognoscenti, the name is derived from the word carburetor, since the device has little holes that offer the user a sort of supercharged boost to whatever they are smoking. Never mind that such use is likely to burn the throat and cause other bodily damage from excessive heat! As for presence of other criminals or undesirables amongst a crowd of some 35,000, I can only the relate the fact that after dropping my wallet (full of cash) amongst a crowd of people in the pine forest, I was able to claim it back half an hour later at the information kiosk with its contents intact!
Tim Palmer-Benson |
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(This is a Scenes of Vermont page and not an official B&P Site, so we cannot answer mail about the date of the next pageant.)
Be sure to check the Bread and Puppet event calendar for future performances.
