From Jim Royal

MAIL0200, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Hello Buckles, Thought we should give you the latest news from Hugo. On November 7th. the Circus City Museum and Park held its first “Circus Festival” on the grounds of the museum. Local performers donated their time and talent to present four mini performances and the Hugo shows provided elephant and pony rides, moon bounce, snake show and concessions. Weather was perfect and it was a good fund raiser for the museum. A movement is underway to start a Showfolks Club and the second meeting/social gathering will be on the 12th. Saturday Hugo will hold its annual Christmas parade, and as always, Santa will travel the parade route atop one of the Carson & Barnes elephants. The annual Circus Homecoming took place on November 23rd and the following letter posted on the museum’s website (www.familylobby.com/circuscitymuseum) sums it up. As always, thank you for your wonderful blog. Jim Royal --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I volunteer for The Circus City Museum and Park. This led me to some wonderful people and events. The latest was Circus Homecoming in Hugo, OK. I was talked into going by my friend Dudley Hamilton. Thank you Dudley. I was overwhelmed with what happened. The City (individuals, chamber of commerce members & private businesses) gathered to welcome home Hugo's circus family (Carson & Barnes, Culpepper - Merriweather and Kelly Miller). I'm from New York City Area so I'm thinking - another photo opportunity for some politician. I was wrong. It was like a family reunion, our family is back together. This celebration was at the library. It was short and sweet. There were brief remarks by each circus about their season, followed by coffee and cake. We towners got to mix with circus performers and workers and, that really happened. We city people with organization presidents and business owners got to meet and welcome home circus owners, performers and workers. I found it wonderful that there were no clicks, no one kept to themselves, everyone was open, even our children played together. This is a family. This is why Hugo, OK is Circus City. (Photo from Buckles)