Opening night of Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Fully Charged Circus

When I was a little kid, I always loved it when the circus came to town. I was a little scared of the clowns for the longest time. I do not know why, but I surely am glad that I outgrew that. HA!

Last night was the first time our 7 year old had been to a circus. I was keeping my fingers crossed that he would have fun and not be afraid of the clowns like I was. And he wasn’t. What a relief! He was too excited looking around and having fun with his best friend, Austin, and his mom, Becky, who went with us to the circus.

I surely was glad that it didn’t take us too long to find parking when we got there. It cost us $10 for parking, which was reasonable for an event of this scale.

As soon as we entered the building, we were greeted by the many concession stands that lined the walkways. I loved the concession stands when I was a kid myself. There were so many yummy and colorful carnival food sold at the concession stands. We bought a big box of popcorn (it came with a cute big Ringling Bros and Barnum Bailey Hat), a bag of cotton candy, and two cups of snow cones in the cutest Ringling Bros and Bailey cups. Average food price at the stands is $10 each. Yes, it is too easy to overspend, so shop wisely.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Fully Charged Circus Acts

Of course, the “Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages” announcements still ring throughout the show, but the electrifying show started off with a parade of the circus performers, including four Asian elephants joining the parade.

The elephants are the icons of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for the longest time. They even have their own elephant conservatory center in Florida to ensure that the endangered species of the Asian elephants are protected and safe for the future.

Have you seen a human-powered merry-go-round? Ukrainian strongman duo (Dmitry Nadolinkskiy and Ruslan Gilmulin) performed an amazing act of human strength by supporting two telephone pole structure joint by a metal rope with four human riders at the each end and another person standing on top of the structure. Not only that, they were able to spin the whole structure at a pretty good speed at the same time. Each strongman consumes 7,500 calories a day. Wow.

Clowns performed entertaining act, such as “How many clowns does it take to fix a light bulb show?”

The performance of the tight rope balancing act was breathtaking, too. A human pyramid on a tight rope. Cycling on a tide rope. Jumping on a tide rope. Yep, you name it. They have it covered.

A human hamster running and jumping on a wheel.

Imagine a human acting like a hamster, jumping and running with daring acts inside and outside of a giant moving wheel?

No circus is complete without animal shows. The tiger show led by Tabayara, the animal trainer surrounded with fierce tigers but obedient and trained like kittens is my favorite part of the show.

Crossbow human launcher.

You have probably seen the human cannon ball, but have you seen a human fire arrow? The performer, Brian Miser aka the human fuse, set himself on fire and shoots out from a giant crossbow like an arrow. My son and his friend Austin thought it was the coolest performance.

It was an enjoyable experience, whether you’ve been to a circus once or many times.

 

Buy Tickets to Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Youngstown, Ohio

You can buy tickets for all 8 performances at the Covelli Centre, are now on sale at the Covelli Centre box office, at all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 1.800.745.3000. Good seats are still available for all performances.

Ticket prices:

$12, $17, $35, and $70.

Show Times:

Saturday, March 26 at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m
Sunday, March 27 at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Monday, March 28, at 7 p.m.

This was not a paid post. My own opinions were used based on my perceptions and experience. Thank you to Feld Entertainment who provided the tickets for review.

Veronica

Veronica is a working mom who operates with a dash of technology, a pinch of positive mind, a dust of joy, and a chocolate bar. Veronica blogged for AkronOhioMoms from 2010-2012.