In cities across America, the circus parade was once one of the
biggest and most anticipated events of the year. The entrance into
town of the colorful and noisy procession of performers, brass
bands, jugglers and exotic animals, and the bright, shrill notes of
the calliope, meant the circus had arrived.
The highlights of the parade were the massive, ornately
decorated circus wagons featuring painted "tableaux" or elaborate
hand-carved reliefs. Drawn by teams of draft horses festooned with
brightly colored plumes, the wagons were designed to dazzle the
townsfolk and entice them to the performance at the
fairgrounds.
As Fred
Dahlinger, Jr., historian at the Circus World Museum, in Baraboo,
Wisconsin, explains, "Whether to purchase big top show tickets with
their limited disposable income was a decision often made after
observing the splendor of the wagons in the show's free street
presentation."
Most of the wagons had a functional purpose, too, transporting
equipment, costumes, animals and performers. In the early days of
circus parades, the horse-drawn wagons themselves traveled overland
in a caravan from town to town. Later on, the wagons were carried
atop railroad flat cars, unloaded at each circus stop and taken to
the showgrounds, where the parade began and ended.
The
wagons pictured here are on display at the Circus World Museum,
which has more than 200 antique circus vehicles in its collection -
the largest of its kind in the world. Most may also be seen, along
with at least 40 other wagons from the museum, on August 2 in
Milwaukee in the annual Great Circus Parade, a reenactment of the
magnificent street pageants of yesteryear.
By Karen Larkins
In cities across America, the circus parade was once one of the
biggest and most anticipated events of the year. The entrance into
town of the colorful and noisy procession of performers, brass
bands, jugglers and exotic animals, and the bright, shrill notes of
the calliope, meant the circus had arrived.
The highlights of the parade were the massive, ornately
decorated circus wagons featuring painted "tableaux" or elaborate
hand-carved reliefs. Drawn by teams of draft horses festooned with
brightly colored plumes, the wagons were designed to dazzle the
townsfolk and entice them to the performance at the
fairgrounds.
As Fred
Dahlinger, Jr., historian at the Circus World Museum, in Baraboo,
Wisconsin, explains, "Whether to purchase big top show tickets with
their limited disposable income was a decision often made after
observing the splendor of the wagons in the show's free street
presentation."
Most of the wagons had a functional purpose, too, transporting
equipment, costumes, animals and performers. In the early days of
circus parades, the horse-drawn wagons themselves traveled overland
in a caravan from town to town. Later on, the wagons were carried
atop railroad flat cars, unloaded at each circus stop and taken to
the showgrounds, where the parade began and ended.
The
wagons pictured here are on display at the Circus World Museum,
which has more than 200 antique circus vehicles in its collection -
the largest of its kind in the world. Most may also be seen, along
with at least 40 other wagons from the museum, on August 2 in
Milwaukee in the annual Great Circus Parade, a reenactment of the
magnificent street pageants of yesteryear.
By Karen Larkins
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