Circus Sarasota

I know...I can just imagine what you're thinking!  This is just part of living in a circus town.  Our hometown hero Nik Wallenda did such a great job promoting Circus Sarasota last week, I ended up attending the evening performance this past Saturday.  Since I had never been to Circus Sarasota before, I wasn't really sure what to expect, except that the show included some performers from other countries and  Nik would be on the high wire with his family.   Gosh, it was a terrific show...every entertaining.   The feats of strength, balance and concentration exhibited by a Bulgarian man named Encho Keryazov were mouth dropping.  (Imagine a svelt gymnast doing a handstand with one hand on a small stack of blocks 15 feet in the air.  Incredible.  I found a good You Tube video of him --- check it out here.)   A talented ventriloquist made me laugh harder than I have in a long time.  And, the aerial dancers were captivating.  But, the show stopper, naturally, was Nik.  He walked forward and backward on the high wire before laying down on his back on that itty bitty wire.  And the amazing feats continued until the grand finale when he and a young relative rode bicycles on the wire with a chair balanced above them -- and Nik's sister actually stood on the chair.  Unbelieveable.  You could have heard a pin drop in the big top.   (By the way, that's Nik on the right.)  All of these mind boggling yet impressive stunts, of course, were done without a net about 50 feet in the air.  Wow.  It almost makes walking over a major road to a building seem rather tame.  Check out this video to see what this year's Circus Sarasota is all about.  I highly recommend the show.

Classic Posters

I just love the classic Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey posters at the circus museum.  There are oodles, but these were two of my favorites.  The top one was created in 1920 and the bottom one, with the prowling lion, was distributed in 1927.  Can you imagine the excitement these posters generated announcing that the circus was coming to town?  I can almost see a little boy looking at that lion, eyes wide open, and asking his parents if he could, please, go see the greatest show on earth.  John Ringling was terrific at marketing, that's for sure!  Tomorrow we'll step out of the circus museum and take a stroll around the Ringling grounds.

Itty Bitty Circus

Within the circus museum is the Tibbals Learning Center, where an extensive miniature circus is on display. It's extremely detailed and shows life on the road with the circus -- from train cars to acrobats to clowns to animal trainers.  The creator, Howard Tibbals, spent 50 years making the miniature scenes, which collectively are known as the Howard Bros. Circus model.  Occupying 3,800 sq. feet, not only is the display impressive, it really highlights how many people and how much work was involved with the circus coming to town.  Interestingly, when I first walked in the building, I immediately was told by a museum volunteer the Ringling name was not authorized to be on the model, thus the name Howard Bros. Circus.   You can learn more about the miniature model and the man behind it here.  This scene shows spectators watching  trapeze artists, clowns, and dancers along with lions and tigers. While I was taking this photo, I overheard an elderly gentleman say excitedly, 'You see the lions and tigers in the same cage?  That's how it really was!  That was the first time it was ever done!  No one ever thought that could happen.'

Big Top

What do you do in Sarasota on a cold, rainy night?  Head under a big top!  Circus Sarasota has temporarily set up three big tops with nightly performances.  In the winter, they offer family entertainment to the public.  The rest of the year, Circus Sarasota is a professional school for those interested in learning the ropes (so to speak) of the circus biz.  I was driving by last night when the bright lights and big tops lured me over for a shot, even though it was chilly, drizzly and muddy.   I could hear the ringmaster all the way in the parking lot and it sounded like the crowd was warm, dry and having fun.