ASSOCIATION • Circus Members From the Center Ring Rodney Huey, RAH PR St rategies • OABA Circus Media Consultant


As we move into hopefully the last month of record-breaking heat waves, a ticket to the circus appears to be one of the “hotter” tickets of the Summer!


The “revived” Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey opens the month in Fort Worth (TX), then heads to California to play Ontario (CA) August 9-11, Anaheim August 16-18, and Los Angeles August 23-25 before closing out August in Oakland. In upstate California, Flynn Creek Circus visits City of Weed August 1-4, followed by gigs in Blue Lake, Sebastopol, and Kirkwood. UniverSoul Circus departs Dallas (TX) to open in St. Louis “across from The Dome” August 16 and plays


throughout the month. Cirque du Soleil is touring only


three circus shows domestically this month. Kooza plays Laguna Hills (CA) before moving to Portland (OR) on August 21. Ovo plays Providence (RI) August 1-8, Manchester (NH) August 8-11, Elmont (NY) August 15-18, Indianapolis (IN)


August 8-22, and Lexington (KY) August 29 thru September 1. Corteo is in Charlotte (NC) August 1-4, Raleigh (NC) August


8-11, and Duluth (GA) August 15-18, then it is off to Europe. Garden Bros. Circus is in Lansing (MI) August 1-4, Gurnee (IL) August 8-11, St. Charles (IL) August 15-18, and Pittsburgh (PA) August 22-25 before winding up the month in Waterford (CT). The All-American Circus will visit the Indiana  Anastasini Circus will be in Palmyra (NY) August 12-17. The open-air Canvas Sky Circus will entertain circusgoers  August 6 -18. Extreme Circus visits Columbus (OH) on August 18 while Cirque Má CEO


Anchorage and Fairbanks (AK) engagements August 2-11. Cirque de Paris appears in Plattsburg (NY) August 8-11


followed by Watertown August 15-18. Venardos Circus is in Orlando through August 17, then


treks north to Lisle (IL) playing into September. FL!P is in North Attleborough (MA) through August 6 while its sister


unit Circo Hermanos Vazquez is in Miami (FL). Bindlestiff Family Circus will perform at the NYC Unicycle Festival August 29 thru September 1.


In other touring news, Victoria Circus is in Wolcott (CT)


August 9-11 while Zerbini Family Circus is performing in the New York state cities of Schuylerville, Ravena, Cortland, and Trumansburg thru August 14. Zoppe Family Circus opens the month in Fraser (CO) before moving on to Wheat Ridge (CO) August 8-13, Farmington (UT) August 16-25, and


Truckee (CA). Circus Smirkus, the nation’s only touring youth circus,


enters the second month of its 13-city New England Tour appearing in Simsbury (CT), Newbury (MA), and the Maine cities of Cumberland, Kennebunkport, and Fryeburg before  performance Saturday, August 17. Circus Smirkus’ Founder and former RB&BB Clown College Dean Rob Mermin has


penned his memoir in “Circle of Sawdust: A Circus Memoir of Mud, Myth, Mirth, Mayhem, and Magic.” Mermin founded CS in 1987 “as a bridge between the traditional and the modern” circus. In other youth circus news, Chicago’s (IL) CircEsteem


recently “unveiled its renovated headquarters, turning a historical movie house into a proper circus gym and after-school


space for kids.” CircEsteem was able to purchase the defunct Lakeside Theater in 2002 with “an anonymous donation” and a $5-million grant from the City of Chicago. Students from Germany’s youth Circus Circuli in Stuttgart will be guests of Circus Harmony in St. Louis through August 9. Last summer, CH took students to Stuttgart (St. Louis’ “Sister City”) as part of its Peace Though Pyramids exchange program. In celebration of its 65th Anniversary in Baraboo (WI),


Circus World Museum will present its Annual Big Top Circus, entitled “Blast Off to Circus World,”


 elephants over the Labor Day Weekend. Also in Baraboo, the historic Al Ringling Museum has been placed under the


auspices of the Wisconsin Historical Society and will operate


under the purview of Circus World Museum


in order “to help ensure its future.”


28 OABA ShowTime Magazine • August 2024


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