From John Goodall

SAVE1335, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Great Circus Parade to return to Milwaukee But not the Great Circus Train Bill Novak - bnovak@madison.com - 3/13/2008 Break out the oversized shoes and face paint everybody, the Great Circus Parade is hitting the streets of Milwaukee once again in 2009. But alas, Dane County circus fans, the Great Circus Train is no more. Milwaukee officials are holding a press conference this afternoon to trumpet the return of the parade on July 12, 2009, to the streets of downtown Milwaukee. The parade, in past years, was always preceded by the circus train meandering through southern Wisconsin, including Madison, a week before the big day. The journeys began at Circus World Museum in Baraboo, where the equipment has a permanent home, and ended with the parade and a display of the circus wagons on Milwaukee's lakefront. Circus World Executive Director Steve Freese told The Capital Times today that the train would not be assembled next year to haul the wagons and equipment to Milwaukee because the flatbed train cars used to haul the 60 circus wagons and other equipment are too old and not up to modern safety standards to be permitted on railroad tracks anymore. The circus wagons will instead by hauled by flatbed trucks, eight at a time, starting July 1, 2009. It has not been determined if there will be a designated route for the flatbed trucks to take so circus fans can see the colorful wagons roll by. "The train is not possible," Freese said. "The rail cars are so old they would need to be updated. Even our newest flatbed train cars are over 20 years old. It would cost at least $1 million to get new cars." The Great Circus Parade, a recreation of circus parades that heralded the arrival of the circus to towns all across the country in the 1800s and 1900s, was an annual fixture on the streets of downtown Milwaukee from 1963 to 1973 but wasn't staged for a decade before returning to Milwaukee in 1983. The parade last took place in Milwaukee in 2003 and was then held in Baraboo in 2004 and 2005 before financial problems put an end to it. "It's very exciting to be able to re-create this grand pageant once again," Freese said, adding that the 2009 parade will be one of the biggest ever staged. According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today, Great Circus Parade organizers said the event will cost about $1.5 million to stage, and about $1 million has already been raised. Freese said the museum provides circus wagons for parades all around the country. "Last year we provided wagons to 17 parades," he said. "We had a wagon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade last year and we sent the Columbia bandwagon to the Fiesta Bowl parade." But the big one was always in Milwaukee, where upwards of a half-million people would line the streets to gawk at the wagons, bands, horses, elephants and clowns. "How rare of an opportunity for the people of Milwaukee and Wisconsin to see this," Freese said. "Most people never get a chance to see these wagons, which are one-of-a-kind." He added that one of the highlights of the parade next year will be the unveiling of the restored Mother Goose pony wagon, originally built in 1882. "The original wagon had gold leaf but over time gold paint was used," Freese said. "We've restored it with gold leaf once again, so the 1882 splendor returns," Freese said. He is also looking for a return to the past for the Baraboo museum, which has had to cut staff in recent years because of a declining number of visitors. Attendance was up 16 percent in 2007, however, and Freese said continued high gas prices could mean more people will stay close to home to see local attractions like the museum. "We've turned the corner," he said.