By: Charity Meier | Novi Note | Published September 17, 2025
NOVI — Children in grades K-4 in the Novi Community School District in the Novi4ALL Program were treated to a special sensory-friendly performance of the Venardos Circus at the Roar Center in Novi Sept.10.
“I thought the circus was amazing, and what a great way for our kids to be able to participate,” said Shailee Patel, Novi Community School District director of special education.
She said many of the kids wouldn’t have been able to attend the full show because of the large crowd and noise.
The performance featured the comedic stylings of Sam Ferlow, a plain-faced clown who wears no makeup, and preshow host Rob Lok, who is also a trained clown. The two performed engaging juggling, yo-yo and other tricks for the audience. Contortionist Sno Bunta performed her Hula-Hoop routine, which at one point had her twirling 36 hula hoops at once and looking like a giant Slinky.
The three performed in front of an audience of approximately 30 kids from five different elementary schools within the district who would otherwise not be able to attend the regular circus show, which was held at Twelve Mile Crossing at Fountain Walk Sept. 4-14. Also in attendance were some parents, teachers and caregivers.
“It takes a village for our kids to sometimes be able to participate in events like this. We had our parapros (paraprofessionals), we had our BCBAs (board-certified behavior analysts), we had a speech pro, we had teachers, we had parents,” Patel said.
The performers never skipped a beat and often included some children who were running into the performance area with a kind greeting. “Oh, look, we have another friend,” Lok would say and continue on with the performance, and the caregivers seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
“It’s important to just keep going, to keep being the character and to keep entertaining. Even though it may seem like they’re not paying attention, they’re always paying attention to some degree, and it’s just more about having fun with them in the distractions,” Ferlow said. “So if they’re getting distracted, follow the distraction.”
“We lean into it,” Lok said. “Because even in the circus itself, when we are performing on that stage, there will be a sneeze, there will be not necessarily a heckle but an unintended laugh, but we hear things, we see things, and we adapt with it, especially as a clown. Sam, our clown, the engagement with the audience as a clown, it draws them in. I feel if you are able to lean into it and include them and be part of that, it gives them an almost bespoked experience just for them.”
He said that all the performers live by the show’s motto and lesson for its audience to “live your circus dream,” and they were excited to be able to share their circus dream with the children.
“We are for everyone, from senior citizens to schools to hospitals to libraries, yeah, full spectrum,” Lok said. “For anyone who is not able to come to our show, we would love if the time and resources allow it; we would love to share that love of the circus with them.”
Bunta, of New York, said she has been performing with the circus for most of her life and always loved it. She said she saw a contortionist act while attending a circus camp and knew that was what she wanted to do.
Lok said he attended Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and since then has had “the sawdust in his blood.” He said the expression comes from the sawdust that is used to hold circus tents down and keeps mud off their feet.
“For me, circus, the idea of just ordinary people doing extraordinary things, it really resonates with me,” said Lok, who has been a circus performer for 30 years. “I was just a teenage kid growing up in Arlington, Texas, and I didn’t see a path of, like, how does one get into a circus, but once I went to clown college, I was like, ‘Wow you can really explode and be amazing at certain things,’ and it gave me a career, gave me a goal and it was really lovely.”
Ferlow, of upstate New York, is a second-generation circus performer. His parents performed in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His dad was a clown and his mother was an aerialist and also rode the elephants.
Ferlow said he learned clowning acts from his father, such as juggling and acrobatics, and then went to Circus Smirkus in Vermont to learn more clowning. He has performed as a clown for 21 years.
“It was a normal life, just very different,” he said of his childhood. “I’d go to Sunday Mass and then follow it up with clown school.”
“My favorite part is just the opportunity to do these outreach programs. It is very much more intimate here, as live entertainers, to have that proper engagement with the audience,” Lok said. “If you go to the stage, we are elevated above you. It is an intimate space, there is connection, but here I just feel like we are right here. We’re just chatting, and that is always my favorite in these kinds of programs, to be there with them, to chat with them afterwards.
“I would say the same,” Ferlow said. “Just to bring our little tent here for people who can’t make it to us, we make it to them and it’s very rewarding and it gives you a purpose.”
“Also, it’s always fun to adapt to different spaces,” said Lok, referencing a trick where he balances a tall pole on his chin.
“The kids loved it. I think one kid said, ‘Oh, what the hell?’” Patel said with a laugh. “You could tell just by their applause, their smiling faces, the kids that got to volunteer, the fact that they were able to sit and participate and not just be everybody up and moving.”