Pauline Dykes tends to Finny, a miniature donkey, foreground, and Coco, in trailer, prior the first show of the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus on April 10 in De Soto. Dykes is part of the third generation of circus performers on her mother’s side of the family. “You get to see different walks of life in the circus,” Dykes said. “Every single circus is different.” Dykes has spent her whole life in the circus. — April 10, 2016, De Soto, Ill.