Do circuses still exist?

Yes. Ringling Bros still tours.

i don’t know if there are circuses in the us, but in europe there are some. it’s still quite popular to go there with the kids…
these are the most popular ones in germany: flic-flac & circus krone

Yes. Ringling Bros comes to Manhattan every March to Madison Square Garden. And in Queens, the Universoul Circus sets up their tent every August out in one of the parks.

There’s one everyday in my house!

Yes, Ringling Bros. circus still comes to Boston every year. And there is the Big Apple Circus, which is a much smaller scale circus, but still performs.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is a great show that still tours as has been mentioned above, Circus Vargas is so big that in it’s last stop here in SoCal there were actually 4 different big tops in different locations around town so it would be easier for people to get to the shows.

And then of course there is the amazing Tihany Circus which features vegas style entertainment that is incredible. Yes there are many circuses still out and touring and it remains a great source of family entertainment.

The Big Apple Circus is a great circus that tours some and plays a few months every winter in Damrosch Park in NYC. We took our kids to it for years.

There are a few circuses that come through Portland every year.

Shrine circus is in Red Deer every year.

go to Nevada…

I went to one when I was younger, it still exists as far as I know.

Otherwise just watch Fox News. It’s like a circus.

Yeah, they come to Florida every once in a while, I have only gone once because I saw what they do to their animals.

THanks everyone for the GA’s!

@judochop Is that Portland OR or ME? Do you know if any happen during the summer (because I’ll be in the area this year) – I guess summer would be prime for this kind of thing? And how did that movement as symbolized by your avatar get started? I remember seeing a website once about it, and I see the logo all over my city in various sizes and mediums.

They still come to the SF Bay Area once a year.
Yes, some times I would love to run away with them.
No, I don’t know if they allow people to do that.

Hell yes the circus is alive and well…the Cruiser 3 ring Big Top right here under my roof!

Yep! You already know due to earlier answers, I’m really just popping in to say they are still fantastic and that my aunt totally gave me a ringside seat to one a few years ago. Um. They don’t get any less awesome the older you get.

yes but in my mind….............

Congress.

Yep, the Great Moscow Circus was in town quite recently. They weren’t bad: some things were better than what I saw in Cirque du Soleil, and some things were not as good as the buskers we get in the summer festival.

They still come to Louisiana every so often.

Shrine Circus Gotta love the Shriners.

Also, Cirque du Soleil is a circus! And my college, FSU, actually has a circus that tours around with students who train. It’s pretty neat, they have bicyclists and acrobats, and jugglers. It’s pretty elaborate for a college performance.

There are plenty of circuses around.

After reading Water for Elephants last summer, I was all fired up to go to Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey when the show came to town in August. It was nothing like what it used to be, not only when I was a kid but even when my children were small. This was mainly dance, down on the floor, with few aerial acts—not much high wire and trapeze—and relatively little spectacle at all. Instead they had a stupid theme that they were trying to pursue in Cirque do Soleil fashion, but it came off lame, simple-minded, and obscure.

They relied on video images cast on the floor for a lot of effects instead of using real objects to interact with. You might as well have been watching TV, and you would have had a better view.

It was also set up so that stuff in the middle blocked your view. It was always a three-ring event, but it didn’t used to be set up so that less than half the audience could see the main attractions. During the animal act, the big cats were all at the other end, with some kind of structure in the middle, and at our end were just the little dogs. I wanted to see the lions and tigers. Even the parade seemed small and limited. I was disappointed and wouldn’t bother to go again.

See Universoul Circus

Here in Ohio we had some random Hispanic circus come and set up in an old mall parking lot. They had tigers and the big colorful tents. I didn’t go, but the ads for it showed jugglers and clowns and such, too. It was totally random and completely in Spanish.

So yes, they do still exist.

Yes they still exist and go whenever I can (: I love them.

There are still a few: Vidbel’s Olde Tyme Circus is one such, and there is the Carson & Barnes Circus. There are also a couple of Mexiucan circuses that come up into our part of Texas about once a year or so.

Yes…the Shrine Circus!!

Yes at my office :)

Yes, there’s a big one in D.C.

I saw this one with my kid last October. www.kellymillercircus.com. They put up a big top (but not too big) and put on a great show. It was a very small troupe, as circuses go, but nobody minded. I hope they come through again next year.