As part of its 77th consecutive year of touring the United States, Carson & Barnes Circus – the largest traveling big top tent circus in America – will visit Delavan on Sunday at the Lake Lawn Resort Airport.
The Delavan Historical Society is sponsoring the circus to help raise money for the group’s preservation projects.
Show times are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. For the best value, fans should buy their advance tickets from local outlets for $12 for adults and $6 for children. Tickets at the gate cost $16 for adults and $10 for children. Tickets can also be purchased online at the Circus website at www.BigTopShow.com. Tickets bought online incur a per-ticket charge of $1.50.
Tickets can be purchased locally up to 24 hours before the first show at the Delavan Historical Society, Lake Lawn Resort, Piggly Wiggly, Bradley’s Department Store, Delavan-Delavan Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, Walworth County Visitors Bureau, Comfort Suites and Deals of Delavan.
Special discount tickets to get a child in free with the purchase of an adult ticket at the gate will soon be available from local outlets or when buying online.
The public also is invited to the circus grounds at the airport to watch the big top go up at 9:30 a.m. and at 12:15 p.m. to watch the City of Delavan Fire Department give the elephants a bath. Carson & Barnes is “the real circus” with everything patrons expect to see under the big top – clowns, acrobats, aerial daredevils, pageantry and a cast of performing animals led by the Carson & Barnes Asian elephants. Starring in this season’s show is “Alex the Clown.” Alex Acero has spent his life performing. As a headliner in Las Vegas and with several of the largest Latin American circuses, Acero keeps the children laughing while keeping the adults on the edges of their seats with his daring gymnastics.
Carson & Barnes owner Barbara Miller-Byrd is the third generation of her family to run the circus. Her daughters, Traci and Kristin, who also travel with the show, will be the fourth generation to run the nation’s largest touring tent circus. Even after more than 60 years on the road as a performer and owner, Barbara is still in awe at the thrill of it all and is still the No. 1 fan of the traditional American circus.
“I remember getting on my first pony shortly after I started walking,” she said. “Seriously, I never considered doing anything other than being a part of the family business, but in those early days no one imagined a woman would ever be the boss in a male-dominated business, like ours.”
One of the most popular attractions at the circus is before the show. The circus travels with a menagerie of exotic animals including a rare Sicilian donkey, two llamas, a miniature zebra and a standard-sized zebra, an alpaca, two camels, a half dozen pygmy goats, and Katy, the pygmy hippo. Kids can get up close and pet these unusual creatures. Small bags of dry food can be purchased to feed the animals.
Also on the circus midway the little tykes can ride a miniature train or saddle up for a Shetland pony ride. For older kids there’s the SuperSlide. Towering above all along the midway are the Asian elephants and the camels. Both can be ridden with the right ticket in hand.
Find a complete tour schedule and show information at www.BigTopShow.com.
