Posted on 01/15/2017 4:10:10 PM PST by digger48
ELLENTON, Fla. (AP) - The owners of Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced Saturday that they will close the 146-year-old show in May.
Kenneth Feld, the chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, said declining attendance combined with high operating costs are the reasons for closing.
Follow Ringling Bros. ✔ @RinglingBros .@RinglingBros will hold its final performances in May of this year. Details: https://goo.gl/75ndaN #RinglingBros 10:31 PM - 14 Jan 2017 2,262 2,262 Retweets 2,003 2,003 likes NBA star Shaquille O'Neal was among those who appeared upset over the announcement that the circus will end, expressing his dismay on Twitter. Follow SHAQ ✔ @SHAQ Famed Ringling Bros. circus closing - CNN noooooo pls don't close whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy nooooooooo noooooooooo https://apple.news/A3ag6AcaRS9GTTSzoLrjm8w … 12:10 AM - 15 Jan 2017 Photo published for Famed Ringling Brothers Circus closing Famed Ringling Brothers Circus closing Ringling Brothers Circus is closing down after more than 100 years in operation, according to a press release from Feld Entertainment, which has owned the circus for the last 50 years. apple.news 287 287 Retweets 922 922 likes
WHEN IS THE CIRCUS' FINAL SHOW?
Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season: "Circus Extreme" and "Out of This World." The final show for "Circus Extreme" will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7, and the other will close after a performance in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21. .
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WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN NOW AND MAY?
The two touring circuses will perform a total of 30 shows over the next four months. Most of the shows will be held in the South or the East Coast. Major stops include Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn. Tickets can still be purchased online and at venues.
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WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE EMPLOYEES?
The Feld family has owned the circus for 49 years, and employs some 500 people for the show. Those employees were told about the closure on Saturday night, after shows in Orlando and Miami. A handful will be placed in positions with the company's other shows - it owns Monster Jam, Disney on Ice and Marvel Live, among other things - but most will be out of a job. Chief Operating Officer Juliette Feld said the company will help employees with job placement and resumes. In some cases where a circus employee lives on the tour rail car (the circus travels by train), the company will also help with housing relocation.
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WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE ANIMALS?
In May of 2016, Ringling retired all of its elephants to a property in central Florida. Forty elephants live at the Center for Elephant Conservation in Polk County. But the circus still has other animals, such as lions, tigers, camels, donkeys, alpacas, kangaroos and llamas.
Juliette Feld says homes will be found for the animals, but the company will continue operating the Center for Elephant Conservation.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE COSTUMES AND PROPS?
The Feld family hasn't decided what it will do with the enormous warehouse filled with circus costumes and props. Kenneth Feld says the company will continue to work with the Circus Museum at The Ringling in Sarasota. That museum holds memorabilia dating to the 1800s, when John Ringling and his family founded Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
I never much cared for circuses. As a child, my parents took me to the Shrine Circus, and I was more interested in the architecture of the arena than in the circus itself.
The clowns in Washington gave them too much competition.
Same here. Never had a desire as a kid to see one and refused once when my mother wanted to take me.
I bit the bullet for my own kids though.
Whatever that is, it has had more than enough food.
I noticed that the Confederate flag on the back of the bookshelf to the left of the harridan has been cropped out. Most of the internet versions of this photo have had said emblem airbrushed out as well!
Who cares where the Obama's go after Thursday!
BTTT
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