Sawdust, the heavenly turf of the circus, is scattered in the center ring. Smell the popcorn. Be awed by the young woman on the flying trapeze. Welcome, children of all ages, to “Tent No. 63” at Festival of Trees.

Understand, here and now, that the next best thing to Christmas is the day the circus comes to town. I am a clown at heart. When I grow up, I will run away and join the circus.

I am dizzily drawn to an honest-to-gosh circus at this year’s festival, now playing at the Davenport RiverCenter “showgrounds.”

This is no slap-dash show. A mural-like hand-painted audience is bug-eyed, watching the center ring action. Lights flash and the divine anthem of the circus, “Barnum & Bailey’s Favorite,” is blaring.

“We thought you’d like it,” says Deb McDaniel, who is festival director. “It’s a surprise. We’ve been planning it for months.”

There is a gimmick in this magic wand of the circus. A sign reads:

“Celebrities Under

The Big Top —

Where’s Wundram?”

Absolutely, it’s a takeoff on the “Where’s Waldo?” puzzles, but there are no Waldos in the audience of this festival big top. Painted among multitudes in the audience are seven particular faces. One of them is my silly mug. Sorry, kids, but when you spot me there is no box of Cracker Jacks as a prize.

The other six faces for you to find are Happy Joe Whitty, smiling as always; the late Karen Getz, who was the godmother of Festival of Trees; Bix Beiderbecke, whose face shows up at the summertime run/jazz bash; Paula Sands, the TV star; Capt. Ernie Mimms, the legend of the telly kid shows; and the most identifiable face of all, Santa Claus.

THIS FLASHY BIG TOP is easily spotted among all the other baubles and bangles of what could be called the Greatest Christmas Show on Earth. The circus tent is so authentic that there are poles, ropes and rigging.  Animals, sure, like a cutout of a seal balancing real packages on its nose; a fluffy tiger and an elephant. Circus buffs who’ve seen this layout are impressed.

“There’s been a lot of circus homework,” Deb says. Hand sawed, cut and hammered is an authentic ring curb, softened at the edges with rope to protect “animals.” This ring curb would make Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey envious. A ring curb surrounds the acts on a real show.

“It was a challenge to paint all those faces in the audience,” says Patti DeVore of Rock Island. It looks like there are hundreds, but then again, I am a slave to superlatives.

Patti, standing back to admire her work, says, “To think I end up doing this, after beginning my artwork painting downtown Rock Island Halloween window posters when I was in junior high.”

The Celebrities Under the Big Top “room” is the sponsored project of Junior Board of Rock Island and  Autism Society of the Quad-Cities.

“These are two of my favorite charities,” says Deb.

EVERY CIRCUS must have a star. The ballyhooed center of attraction in this circus tent is a dazzling white Christmas tree. No Festival of Trees “room” can be worthy of a holiday name without a Christmas tree. The tree is decorated with pricey circus ornaments. No gimmicks, except a few boxes of popcorn.

The tree’s star is a flashy clown of some size. It looks like Quad-City philanthropist Hunt Harris, nose, jaws and ears.

“Hunt should buy that tree for his grandchildren,” Deb says.

If he doesn’t, there will be coal in his stocking this Christmas.

Contact Bill Wundram at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.