Highlights Archives
Great Circus Parade to Return to Milwaukee
Fifty authentic circus wagons from Circus World in Baraboo, 60 horse-drawn vehicles, 10 marching bands and more bands performing atop circus wagons will parade through downtown Milwaukee on Sunday, July 12, 2009, according to an announcement made at a news conference in Milwaukee on March 13, 2008. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker served as ringmasters for the announcement. Bill Fox and Jack McKeithan of parade sponsor Great Circus Parade Inc., Circus World Executive Director Steve Freese and Circus World board chair Renee Boldt, along with Ellen Langill, president-elect of the Historical Society's Board of Curators, were also on hand for the announcement.
The spectacular event will mark the 40th running of the Great Circus Parade — the 30th in Milwaukee — and will help Circus World celebrate its 50th anniversary season in 2009. Circus World's historic wagons will begin their trek to a staging area at Veterans Park on Milwaukee's Lakefront aboard semi trailers — eight wagons a day — from July 1-3 and July 6-10, 2009. Then, on Sunday, July 12, they will parade through the streets of downtown Milwaukee accompanied by the marching bands and other colorful vehicles, creating a spectacle that hasn't been seen in the city since the summer of 2003. Circus World staged smaller parades in Baraboo in 2004 and 2005, but the parade had been on hiatus since then.
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle praised the return of the parade, saying, "The Great Circus Parade has a wonderful history in Wisconsin, and it is exciting that next year Milwaukee will host a tradition that people all over the state know and love."
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who had called for the return of the parade to Milwaukee in his "state of the city" address in February, said, "For generations the portrait of Milwaukee included the annual Great Circus Parade. People would line our streets, fill our hotel rooms and restaurants, and take part in one of our nation's truly historic events. It's time to bring back the parade and once again showcase Milwaukee's fine tradition of hospitality and our revival."
"It's great to have the big show back in the big town," added Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. "The Great Circus Parade is a national treasure, and we're thrilled to have it back in Milwaukee County."
The Wisconsin Historical Society owns Circus World and its collections, and operates the historic site through a lease-management agreement with the private, nonprofit Circus World Museum Foundation.
:: Posted March 13, 2008
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