Holiday Circus Offers Outdoor, Walk-Through Experience
SARASOTA, FL — For years, the Showfolks of Sarasota has hosted an annual holiday circus at Robarts Arena. The event serves as a fundraiser for organization, which has served as a private club for current and retired circus performers since the mid-1960s.
“It’s kind of like an Elks Lodge for circus performers,” said Jeff Bruski, president.
The circus is the club’s biggest annual fundraiser, he added. “Plus, our members who are performers get to showcase their acts.”
For months, it looked like this year’s Holiday Circus wouldn’t happen because of the COVID-19 pandemic, though. It was a disappointment for the group’s members, but “we didn’t think it was a good idea to have a show inside,” Bruski said. “With everything going on, we didn’t think people would be coming out.”
Then, they decided “to try something new, something we had never done before,” he said.
The Showfolks decided to organize their Holiday Circus as an outdoor festival, an event that would be socially distanced, one where families could walk through the show safely despite the pandemic, Bruski said. “There’s plenty of room for everybody to spread out.”
This year’s Holiday Circus takes place outside the Sarasota County Fairgrounds located at 3000 Ringling Blvd. in Sarasota. It runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Shows planned for the event include The Flying Wallendas high-wire act, a flying trapeze act, horse and dog displays, and more. Bello Nock, the daredevil clown and performer who appeared on “America’s Got Talent,” will host a fan meet-and-greet. There will also be more than 20 international food vendors from the Sarasota area, and a flea market with local vendors.
General admission tickets are $10 each. Purchase tickets and find a full schedule of events online here.
This article originally appeared on the Sarasota Patch