"Big Tent" an American Traveling Circus Comes to Town

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Before there was the Cirque du Soleil to astonish audiences with extraordinary acrobatics and spectacular showmanship, America’s traveling circuses drew … Read more Before there was the Cirque du Soleil to astonish audiences with extraordinary acrobatics and spectacular showmanship, America’s traveling circuses drew patrons to enormous tents pitched in open fields. Generations of children eagerly anticipated being entertained by daring high-wire flyers, remarkably well-trained animals and ridiculous clowns. Warm days, cotton candy and peanuts went with the territory. But many of these entertainments are now only part of our past. This work, by California artist Clifford Holmes (1876-1963), offers a valentine to our younger selves and our then-eager anticipation of those summer thrills. See less