{"id":31135,"date":"2019-06-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/edmonds-disappearing-circus\/"},"modified":"2021-03-22T20:31:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T20:31:07","slug":"edmonds-disappearing-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/edmonds-disappearing-circus\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmond’s Disappearing Circus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Edmond<\/p>\n

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Hurry, hurry, hurry\u2014you don\u2019t want to miss the closing act of this amazing show, right here in Edmond, Oklahoma!<\/em><\/p>\n

Between 1943 and 1976, it wasn\u2019t uncommon to see giraffes and llamas grazing in the fields along Kelly. Edmond was the off-season sheltering grounds for two traveling circuses. Both were managed by Edmond college graduate, Howard Suesz. He first started the Clyde Brothers Circus, featuring indoor acts, and he later added the Hagen Brothers Circus as an outdoor tent <\/span>act. <\/span><\/p>\n

Something about being a circus town seems oddly out of sync with the perceptions of early Edmond\u2014the pioneer town focused upon religion and college-<\/span>level education. Perhaps <\/span>Edmond\u2019s obscure role as a circus town is fascinating because circuses have fallen out of favor. Or maybe it\u2019s the knowledge that hidden remnants of the circus yard still exist along <\/span>a heavily-trafficked street <\/span>in Edmond.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But truly, why wouldn\u2019t Edmond–a place that hosted a circuit of famous opera singers in the 1920s and was home to an Olympic gymnast in the 1980s–also be an entertainment hub? If you\u2019ve read Sam Anderson\u2019s bestselling book, Boom Town, you know that Oklahoma City and its surrounding communities have defied logic since day one; that day being April 22, 1889. So, of course, Edmond was a circus town. <\/span><\/p>\n

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When researcher, Derek Lee, first started working at Edmond Historical <\/span>Society, he was surprised by how frequently he received inquiries about the Edmond circus. \u201cMany people have memories of seeing the animals as they <\/span>drove by or hearing lions roar in the distance,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI think there is a certain nostalgia about a circus that is intriguing. Until I started looking into it, I\u2019d never thought about what happens to a circus when it isn\u2019t on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Because winter was not the ideal time to travel or to attract crowds to a <\/span>tent, circuses used the down-season to repair road-worn vehicles, work on new acts, and rest. Oklahoma was an ideal resting ground because of its central location in the United States and its mild winters. Another key factor for Edmond was the railroad running through town and a highway <\/span>nearby, which undoubtedly provided easier access to materials, performers and animals from around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I direct your attention to the disappearing act in Ring 3…<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1976, the aging Suesz sold his Edmond-based circuses. The land, which still has remnants of old caging, a bus and a house, was abandoned over time. An unfortunate string of trespassers has crossed the fence to sneak around the circus graveyard, pluck souvenirs and leave graffiti. However, the land recently went up for sale. It\u2019s unlikely that giraffes and a big tent are going to be part of Edmond\u2019s landscape again. Is it possible that the purchaser might feel nostalgic about preserving Edmond\u2019s unique circus history or artifacts in some way? If not, Edmond\u2019s circus is about to become an obscure memory indeed, left only to those who remember hearing lions roar in Edmond.<\/p>\n

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So, step right up folks! Celebrate the memory of Edmond\u2019s greatest show on earth! <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Step right up to celebrate the memory of Edmond’s greatest show!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":32723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"Issue":[353],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31135"},{"taxonomy":"Issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/Issue?post=31135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}