When kiddos in top hats introduced colorful clowns to the audience, Powell Middle School Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Jason Sleep had a funny smile on his face.

No doubt he was thinking about the difference between the modest 1976 circus in which he participated — the first Kindergarten Circus held in Powell's elementary schools. The circus is now one of the top drawing events of the year at the school system; the gym was jampacked, but few in the audience were students. This is an event for parents and very few school children watch the circus.

It was difficult to tell who was actually in attendance. It seemed every single person had cellphones in front of their faces, obscuring their identities while recording every golden moment.

Sleep was a clown when he was a Powell kindergartner.

"When [the circus] first started, it was pretty simple. Most of it was just dressing in the costumes," Sleep said. "But now, with all the themed implements and the fanfare, it's grown into such a cool staple of Powell."

He remembers his mother, former Parkside teacher Carol Lamb, dressing him up for the circus. It was the bicentennial year for America and there were many programs to celebrate. But few last for the past half-century, let alone to have grown like the circus.

It was pretty tame in those days, Sleep said. Now the circus can choke traffic, only leaving parking spots for late-comers far enough away from the school entrance to break a sweat.

"How many times can you say something has lasted 50 years and only gains steam?" Sleep said.

The smile on Sleep's face was the same smile shared by many in attendance. For each group, including lions, elephants, clowns, tightrope walkers, strongmen and emcees, the children asked those in the audience to stand if they remembered what they were in the circus.

For each category, several folks would stand, sporting that same smile on their face; happy because it's a great tradition and possibly the best thing to watch all year in the schools (sorry band, they are just too cute to compete against).

Having a part in the circus doesn't really elevate former Powell kindergartners to celebrity status, but it does offer membership in the unofficial, but special club of Powell natives. There's no secret handshake or passwords, just that peculiar smile of native commonality.

Parkside Principal Jason Hillman was a tight-rope walker in the circus' second year. His top memory of the event is that he messed up. Evidently, it was very upsetting for the then young scholastic spitfire.

"I can remember I was walking across a wood plank, and I messed up and stepped off," he said of his experience 49 years ago.

He also remembers loving his kindergarten teacher, Ms. Colleen Greenway. His class did the production on stage at Parkside Elementary. Hillman has even outlasted the stage at the school as he went from his childhood to adulthood (minus college) in Powell and the stage was no longer needed. When asked what the past 50 years of the circus has meant to him, he first joked.

"It means I'm old now," he quipped.

But like usual, Hillman turned the praise to the teachers.

"Our kindergarten teachers have done such an outstanding job. They love it. They know how special it is to the community, so they tried to make it extra special every year for our kids," Hillman said. "That's one of my favorite things. I love watching our kids. They get so excited to dress up. So 50 years of the circus, 50 years of anything for traditions, is pretty amazing, and to be able to sustain this for that long is a real testament to all those teachers that have done it."

Westside Principal Kelsey Tobin wasn't in Powell while working her way through elementary school. The Thermopolis native didn't have a chance to be in the circus, but her 12 years as a teacher at Westside prior to getting the top job has exposed her well to the event.

"Every year our team puts on a phenomenal performance. And there's a lot of work that goes into coordinating all of them. The kids love it, and they show up and they look so adorable," she said.

Southside Principal Scott Schiller arrived in Powell 23 years ago and wasn't in the circus. However, he and his wife Kelly, who is a teacher at Parkside, put two children through the program.

Braden was a strong man and now works for the University of Wyoming and Riley was a clown and just graduated from UW with a degree in Visual Communications Design.

This year will be the last year guiding students at Southside for Schiller as he retires at the end of the school year. To celebrate his retirement, Schiller took a juicy pie to the face to open the circus.

As whipped cream dripped in his eyes, he smiled knowing he has done good during his long career.

However, despite his absence, the show, as they say, must go on.