Who doesn’t love a circus??? And, visiting the Ringling Circus Museum in Sarasota, we had the opportunity to love and appreciate many different, early circuses. The museum traces the history of the circus, focusing on its heyday in the first part of the 20th century. This is a real piece of Americana, when the Big Tops traveled the circus by rail, unloaded their riches at huge empty lots, and (at least in the larger cities, like New York) attracted up to one million attendees. It took days to erect the multiple tents, which you can see in several photos after the circus posters. And look at the daily food orders for the circus cookhouse: can you imagine going through 2,470 pounds of fresh meat per day??
The various circus wagons were fun to look at, as were the unicycles, thinking of someone perched that high off the ground. And one of the best items in the museum was that silver human cannon! Check it out: can you imagine being stretched out in that cannon barrel, just waiting to fly into the air? It was a great museum!
Also on the grounds is Ringling’s opulent mansion on Sarasota Bay, with its own dock and its own promenade of trees winding down through the property. Then there is the Art Museum! There are two long wings of 21 galleries filled with over 10,000 pieces of priceless art, surrounding a planned garden. You can see the garden in the photo with the colonnaded building. Also included are some photos of the greenery on the site, as well as ponds with fountains. The feel is all very lush and lazy, elegant, and so pretty. It is a trip back in time. Our comment, after wandering around the property for hours was…this is what selling millions of circus tickets will get you! The last photo of the Ringling grounds is the Masked Man, who guards the entrance.
We end this post with photos of proper social distancing signs that we saw in an Amish restaurant in Sarasota. Do you think food is always on their mind, even in pandemic instructions? We found these three floor signs to be so creative, fun, and…..informational!! Enjoy!
