Circus World in Baraboo, WI

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS - I love this wonderful book by Sara Greun, and can't wait for the movie to come out next April! I read it over a year ago, and was so motivated to visit Circus World in Baraboo, WI. She got most of her research for the book from visiting Baraboo. And it's only about 30 minutes from where we live. So we spent a Saturday in June there - saw The Big Show, a Magic Act, part of the Tiger's Act, and spent a long time walking the grounds and the Museum. What a great experience. The tour among the circus wagons was fascinating. Our guide knew so much history. Hard to imagine that most of the circus wagons that were so plentiful ended up being used for wood in the Depression, for the metal in the War, or were abandoned on country farms. Circus World has the largest collection of restored circus wagons than any place else in the world. After our visit, I reread Water for Elephants! Now it's on my Kindle so I can read it whenever I like. Probably one more time after I see the movie

This is the museum. From inside, you cross over the Baraboo River on a bridge to the circus grounds. Inside the museum is a wealth of history, photos, costumes, etc.

This is the Hippodrome - a one-ring circus pavilion where we saw the magic act and The Big Show. Did you know that elephants really, really stink? Maybe the heat and the crowded seating area didn't help. We enjoyed the show anyway - it was neat to see an "old-fashioned circus"!

This is inside the Hippodrome. They don't allow photos during the acts - darn it!

One of the really fancy wagons. This one came from Ireland, so we had our Irish fan pose in front of it (go, Notre Dame!)


They have 2/3 of the world's remaining circus wagons right here in Baraboo. Many were dismantled for the steel during the war. and these fancy ones were really just for the street parades, so once they stoped having those ("teasers" to get you to come to the circus!) these wagons weren't useful. Many became chicken pens or other farm uses.

It's a little hard to see, but this is one of the wagons where people stayed. You can see the bed and mattress on the left if you click to enlarge this image.

This is one of their three "story-book" wagons. This one of Mother Goose contains over $60,000 in gold-leaf. The Cinderella one is also in gold-leaf and Circus World, Inc. is raising money to get The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe done in the gold-leaf as well.


I'm such a clown!

If you ever wondered how Jack would look behind bars - here's a photo. Ceilings were a little low in those animal wagons!