Has family entertainment like the circus become a thing of the past?

[sasywtch]

The poster above explained it with Ringling Brothers. Since then, we've had several "Cirque De Soleil" type circus acts that travel here (suburb outside a city). We've have one currently sitting in a parking lot of our local mall. It's called Circus Vazquez. We also get the Big Apple Circus. Both have websites and you can check to see if they are coming to your area.

Disney on Ice is still a thing (I know, no longer "Ice Capades") but they do a pretty good family show. I see they have a pretty full calendar for this year.

Lots of things were scaled back for the last two years but seemed to be reemerging.

Is that the circus at The Galleria?

 

[Wendy1985]

Movies were big yes they retired but even before covid by the time I had time to see the movie it was on a streaming service I was paying for

 

[Christine]

Is that the circus at The Galleria?

I think that might actually be Cirque De Soleil. I am near Potomac Mills which is having Circus Vazquez. Never heard of it before but seems to be the same concept--live orchestra, acrobats, etc.

 

[JLTraveling]

We have tons of things for children and families all year long, often sponsored by the zoo or the aquarium or the children's museum. Even Mardi Gras weekend, there are several events designed for families with young kids. And there are always tons of kids enjoying the live music at Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, etc. Plus the high school bands sometimes play for free in Jackson Square, not to mention the fun of just wandering the streets and watching the buskers/listening to the musicians playing on different street corners. And if you want more old-fashioned family fun, the small towns all around have a full slate of carnivals and festivals throughout the year.

The smallish town where I grew up had a pretty calendar of events back then, and they've only added to it. Every time I go back to visit, my cousins want to know if we should make plans for this festival or that event. Not to mention the fantastic community theaters in the area, with very good children's theaters attached.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, the traditional circus has kind of died out because of animal concerns and also just a waning interest in such spectacle. The promise was always to see things that you've never seen before - wonders and marvels - well, we've seen it. We can see it all the time in video form. It certainly doesn't appeal to kids. This kind of thing is really just becoming a thing of the past.

It's such a shame the way the animals were treated too. I don't necessarily think that having animals perform is always cruel (for certain kinds anyway), however I think in a circus setting where it travels around, it would be difficult to maintain an enviroment conducive to the animals wellbeing (assuming the operators even wanted to). These creatures, especially large ones like elephants, need lots of space. There was little to no oversight on these operations too. Even in movies and such where there are a lot of people ensuring the safety of animal performers there are ocassions of problematic incidents.

 

[kdonnel]

Circus type acts though are big in Las Vegas, just without animals.

There are so many variety shows made up of performers that might have in the past performed at the local circus.

Some of the shows remain family friendly like V - The Ultimate Variety Show, WOW - The Vegas Spectacular, and House of Magic while others like OPIUM, Atomic Salon, and Absinthe tie family friendly acts together with an adult story line.

 

[lanejudy]

We have a lot of family entertainment in our area, though circus really isn't part of it. Any circus acts are mostly the acrobatic shows, no animals and all that Ringling-type stuff. We actually have a somewhat local program for kids interested in performing circus acrobatics.

The Ice Capades and Ice Follies folded long ago but there are still ice skating shows that travel the country. Disney on Ice is very popular.

Other entertainment may depend on time of year but around here we have county and state fairs, local festivals and parades, the library has storyhour each week and some other kids' activities (crafts, movies, etc.), minor league and college-level sports, summertime concerts in the park in multiple communities, hands-on museums for kids, historical sites often have special kids activities to draw in families, etc.

 

[DodgerGirl]

When my mom and I would go to Borders they would always have storytellers read stories to younger children and it was alright and I wonder you don't see many of the small bookstores have story hours for kids except the libraries from time to time. But another thing that you don't see quite often is story hours with crafts after the story was finished because I used to see these types of story hours at school and in the library and it was great and fun family entertainment. I think with more family entertainment slowly making a comeback more families will encourage their kids to be more involved with the family

 

[RangerPooh]

Our family does not attend circuses due to animal treatment. This is a personal choice. As for fairs, locally there are a few different county/mid-south fairs. We opt to not attend these due to safety concerns. I will be blunt, Memphis is not the safest place, and fairs is no exception. We attended one when we first moved here and left quickly. We previously attended our local rural county fair for the animals and exhibits, not the rides.

Family entertainment is not cheap. We have a zoo membership, and a museum membership, but it is costly.

 

[BrianL]

Our family does not attend circuses due to animal treatment. This is a personal choice. As for fairs, locally there are a few different county/mid-south fairs. We opt to not attend these due to safety concerns. I will be blunt, Memphis is not the safest place, and fairs is no exception. We attended one when we first moved here and left quickly. We previously attended our local rural county fair for the animals and exhibits, not the rides.

Family entertainment is not cheap. We have a zoo membership, and a museum membership, but it is costly.

At least the Zoo here is pretty great! I have a membership too, mostly for ice skating in the winter, but I enjoy the zoo in general. I wish our museum system was better. I have nostalgic feelings for the Pink Palace (now called MoSH) but it's not that great. Most of it hasn't changed in decades either. The redone planetarium is pretty nice though.

 

[barkley]

Not here, still lots of family entertainment . Cirque De Soleil is here currently. Earlier this year we had the Chocolate Festival. Last weekend we had the Garlic Festival. Earlier this month, The Lumineers were here along with Monster Jam. This weekend it was the Banana Festival. Foodieland food and entertainment festival is coming up. We had the State Fair and the County Fair.
Also coming up Michael Buble, The Who, Disney on Ice.
We haven't gone to many because there are just too darn expensive. Monster Jam started at $45. Cirque De Soleil starts at $39 and goes to $125 per person plus $15 parking.
The Chocolate Festival was only $10, and parking was free. The Garlic Festival charged $10 for parking, tickets were $10 for adults under 64, Senior Citizens were free.

​

your area also has the annual sacramento greek festival which we miss SO MUCH! It was a great event to take the kids to-lots of family entertainment, kids activities-all for free entry.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Not here, still lots of family entertainment . Cirque De Soleil is here currently. Earlier this year we had the Chocolate Festival. Last weekend we had the Garlic Festival. Earlier this month, The Lumineers were here along with Monster Jam. This weekend it was the Banana Festival. Foodieland food and entertainment festival is coming up. We had the State Fair and the County Fair.
Also coming up Michael Buble, The Who, Disney on Ice.
We haven't gone to many because there are just too darn expensive. Monster Jam started at $45. Cirque De Soleil starts at $39 and goes to $125 per person plus $15 parking.
The Chocolate Festival was only $10, and parking was free. The Garlic Festival charged $10 for parking, tickets were $10 for adults under 64, Senior Citizens were free.

​

You live in Gilroy?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

options are around (not circuses - that era is over), especially if you are in a more urban area, but they have become very expensive.

 

[lanejudy]

But another thing that you don't see quite often is story hours with crafts after the story was finished

Our library has story hour and in addition to reading a book or 2 they do some kind of physical movement (maybe a song with motions kind of thing) and a craft. Bookstores sometimes have special events with an author.

 

[tvguy]

You live in Gilroy?

Nope. Gilroy dropped the Garlic Festival. The couldn't get insurance after the shooting at the last one. They moved the Garlic Festival to Stockton this year. I live in Sacramento.
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/...kton/103-54badfda-e4e7-4594-b5cd-782d4f45c126

 

[Mysterian]

Since circus' have changed, take heart. A clever circus can still make the most of it.

People can dress up like animals and put on a show. Not like CATS, mind you. They won't sing, but they can jump through a hoola-hoop or two. You get a cat with a top hat and he coughs up a surprise bouquet of magic flowers, hands it to a lucky kid. Animal people can even pretend to take a swipe at the clowns, get the crowd going. Oooo! Ahh!

And there's the crowning achievement: Two acrobats in the air, each wearing one half of a horse costume, leap and join together as a horse and fall safely on a net. Audience goes completely bonkers.

But if Furries show up in the audience? Collapse the tents and call it quits. This is a quality show, and the only weirdos allowed are Carnies and DISboarders. Oops, too late to edit.

 

[KVH]

I love the way everyone is saying how available entertainment is. I think there is a bit of demographic-centrism here. How many of you actually live in a rural area? I don't mean suburbs, I mean somewhere like the Palouse or some such. Or even any small town deemed not financially valuable enough for any travelling show to visit.

Y'all make it sound like "you can just go anywhere and be entertained and have your pick of shows". Well, if you live in Texhoma and you want to see Disney on Ice, plan on a 5+ hour drive to OKC. Possibly even Dallas (another 3-4 hours). Not very convenient.

So, no, public entertainment, in the form of shows and such ISN'T that available overall. I can't fault many for thinking such a way but let's be honest about it.

 

[NotUrsula]

Feld Entertainment was the biggest operator of these kind of "family entertainment" stadium/arena shows. They still have Monster Jam and AMA Supercross, but I'm thinking their bread and butter right now is Disney on Ice. And they still own Ringling Bros although that's being revamped as previously noted. On top of that they produce Sesame Street Live and Marvel Universe Live.

https://www.feldentertainment.com/productions/

Feld is a powerhouse, and probably produced some of the circus performances the OP remembers, as they bought out RBBB in 1967. They had to do furloughs during the worst of the pandemic, but were the first touring productions to go back on the road, and have now rehired most of their Ellenton production staff and are hiring performers at a fast clip to ramp up the international tours now that going abroad is possible again. I know several skaters who have worked with Feld as performers. (Also, of the list of touring children's shows the OP mentioned, Feld produced all of them except the The Wiggles and Raffi. They also produced the Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice after 1979.)

Part of the issue in rural areas is the decline of rail transit. It used to be that shows traveled by rail and could stop at just about any town of any size that was on the line without incurring much extra cost, but that's not the case with a truck fleet that uses arena buildings for stages instead of tents carried along with the show. The minute you leave the interstate highway system, costs begin to climb because of the slowdown in travel speed, and in rural areas it is often difficult to find arenas with enough seating (and enough power capacity to support theatrical sound and lighting) to enable making a profit. It has always been the case that the only way remote areas get professional traveling entertainment is when it is easy and profitable to stop en route to somewhere that could support a run of several weeks. Cinema killed Vaudeville, and streaming TV is doing its best to kill movie theaters.

That said, local non-profit family entertainment is all over the place wherever communities, schools, and/or houses of worship have chosen to make facilities available for it. You pretty much have to grow it at home (with perhaps a few hired professionals added to the group for wow factor), but when it comes to kids' shows, the audience tends to be very happy with dedicated amateur talent. Most public libraries have storytime programs, and if they don't, perhaps local support for added funding can help make it possible. I help stage a 4-show nonprofit suburban production of Nutcracker on Ice every year at a public rink, and we have hundreds of repeat audience members who have no connection to the young performers, but who would not dream of missing it. I grew up in the rural South. When I was in grade school the school district brought in high-school kids from surrounding counties to do shows for us, and when we were in high school they brought in college theatre groups from elsewhere in the state who were happy to do on-the-road productions at our high school and make a bit of money for their program. We had a lot of local folk festivals as well (some fairs with traveling carnival rides, but more festivals with amateur performances and contests like cookoffs.)

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I know it's not politically correct to say this but I miss the circus. Not the Cirque du Soleil, I miss the old Barnum and Bailey with animals and creepy clowns and the motorcycles going around in the ball, the dogs doing tricks and the pretty girls doing gymntastics on the backs of the horses and riding the elephants. We do other family stuff together though but I think I'll always miss the circus.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

At least the Zoo here is pretty great! I have a membership too, mostly for ice skating in the winter, but I enjoy the zoo in general. I wish our museum system was better. I have nostalgic feelings for the Pink Palace (now called MoSH) but it's not that great. Most of it hasn't changed in decades either. The redone planetarium is pretty nice though.

Your zoo has an ice rink? Ours doesn't do anything like that, they have a penguin parade in the winter as long as temps are below 40 but that's about it.