The circus has come and gone. Was it good, bad, or ugly?

traveling circus  traveling circus elephant traveling circus signstraveling circus ad

A traveling circus had two shows yesterday at Babcock Park. I missed the shows but did take a photo of the setup, an elephant, their Hwy 3 signs, and their ad taped to a Northfield News paper dispenser box.

Last fall, the Mpls City Council considered whether to ban wild animals performing in circuses. See the Strib story and the MPR story.

My wife Robbie and I visited the Minnesota Zoo last Saturday. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my. It was terrific. But I now wonder… with Minnesota Zoo 30 minutes away, should we be hosting this type of circus? And how much does a circus like this pay the City of Northfield to use its park? Are those signs on the Highway 3 shoulder and median legit? Did they pay the Nfld News to plaster posters on the dispenser boxes?  Am I being too politically correct to be asking these questions?

3 Comments

  1. I don’t care about signs, money, park use or being politically correct. What I do care about is the poor animals. Wild animals need to be in the wild, not in a circus.

    July 31, 2008
  2. Kerri Thayer said:

    I’ll second that Marcea! The picture of the elephant is a sad one. Elephants need to be with their families in the wild. I’m a bit surprised Northfield would allow a circus here.

    I put many fliers in our store windows for events, but I refused to advertise for this.

    July 31, 2008
  3. We were very surprised that the price for an adult was $14 vs. $7 from the 07 circus in Faribault. The set-up was a lot smaller and much less showy than the one in Faribault. The price of food was reasonable ($1 for snowcone, $1 cotton candy at the end of the show). The acts were mainly basic having stunts done by one of the family members running the circus. The seating was minimal, at best, and dangerous – they used 2 X 4 planks supported with bungy cords on work horse benches. I am surprised no one fell or hurt themselves. I would not go back, although my kids enjoyed it.
    The 2 animal acts were well done – the horses looked extremely healthy and well-fed. The elephant seemed in good spirits and seemed to have fun with his trainer who gave him a large pot of peanuts and lots of hugs at the end. There were no other animal acts – the one in Faribault had tigers, dogs, elephants, horses.
    Molly Peterson

    July 31, 2008

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