Circus Parade Makes a Comeback

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The Great Circus Parade will return to downtown Milwaukee on July 12, 2009, with a full lineup of clowns, bands and horse-drawn wagons.

Parade organizers plan to announce at a news conference at 2 p.m. today that Milwaukee's Great Circus Parade Inc. has signed a contract with Baraboo's Circus World Museum to bring back the event.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and state officials are expected to appear at the news conference at O'Donnell Park Pavilion at the lakefront.

The 2009 edition of the parade "will be one of the largest parades we've ever put on, if not the largest," said Steve Freese, executive director of the Circus World Museum Foundation. "To be able to stage the largest historic re-enactment in the country is a privilege."

The Great Circus Parade was last held here in 2003, part of a state tradition going back to 1963 that drew hundreds of thousands of fans to watch the spectacle. But parade financial woes and museum staff cutbacks forced the event's cancellation.

In this year's "state of the city" address, Barrett called for the parade's revival, adding that 2009 would be an ideal date because it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Circus World Museum and would be the 30th time the parade would be held in Milwaukee.

Parade co-chairman Jack McKeithan said: "The time is right to bring it back. This is recreation that will put joy in the hearts of all the thousands of people we expect to come to enjoy it. It takes a certain amount of time for things to catalyze."

Bill Fox, a parade co-chairman, said the event cost about $1.5 million to stage and that the Great Circus Parade Inc. already had about $1 million in reserve. He said that "the private sector will be paying for 99.9 percent of the parade," and that he and McKeithan would immediately "start looking to raise $500,000 to $600,000 in the next year for the parade. We're just hoping the staunch historical patrons will recognize the value of this parade to this city and the state of Wisconsin in 2009."

Barrett has said he would personally raise the $12,000 to $15,000 to pay city permit fees.

Organizers wanted the parade's return to be "in the grand style we remembered it in the 1990s," Fox said. At least 50 of the Circus World Museum's horse-drawn, painted antique circus wagons will roll in the lineup. Lakefront show grounds will once again offer entertainment in the days before the parade, including big-top performances by the Kelly Miller circus.

The parade still faces challenges. Organizers would not speculate if the 2009 parade would be a one-time happening.

I think this is great.

It's time for the parade to return.

The kids that went to the Circus Parade when it was resurrected in the mid-80s now have kids of their own.

It's wonderful that this new generation will have the opportunity to witness the spectacle.

It's a tremendous family event, one in which Milwaukee and Wisconsin can take great pride.