When the Big Top came down.

"Off comes the make up

Off comes the clown's disguise 

The curtain's fallin' 

The music softly dies.

But I hope your smilin'

As you're filin' out the door

As they say in this biz

That's all there is, there isn't anymore.

For the last 15-plus years, in late November the circus came to town. The Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks left town for cities far and wide— and in came The Ringling Bros Circus to put on "The Greatest Show on Earth." It was not only a tradition in our family, it was "must do." 

As the kids got older their interest wained; there was only one person who went every year. That was me. I loved going and taking pictures of the performers. My favorite subjects were the trapeze artists who hung over head. Their form, grace and skill were amazing to watch.

But that's coming to a close.

This weekend we learned the show is over. Ringling Bros will be shutting down after 146 years. I am still in shock and am very thankful we went to the show this past year. Although it changed, there were no elephants in the show any longer; they introduced some unusual animals which I am sure were just needed replacements and could be trained. The weirdest…that would be the pigs. Yes, they had huge pigs in the performance. I can tell you, there was a vast difference in the performance and it felt very forced—they did not look too happy either.

And, the number of clowns were reduced this year. I suspect that part of it had to do with what took place this past Halloween when suddenly "creepy" found itself in the same mention as "clown."

A number of years ago I went to the Ringling Bros museum in Sarasota, FL—but that was not what I remembered most from the trip. It was when we drove by a dilapidated building that was boarded up and could easily have been in a horror movie. That's when I learned…this was the former residence of many of the performers in the circus during the off season. After all of these years, it still spooks me. 

A couple of years ago, guests were allowed to go down to meet the performers. What we experienced were some of the nicest people who really were happy we were there. They took photos, asked us how many times we had been to a performance, and much more. Even if they were told to act this way to guests, it felt very genuine.

But now it's part of our past. The animals will be placed in a sanctuary, the performers will need to find new employment, and a tradition that created memories for millions of American families, will call it a day. 

The photo above was taken several years ago. The performer had hair that stood straight up; a lot of dippty-doo I assure you. During the performance he came right by our seats and I saw that this was no wig, it was really his hair. He's lucky it didn't break off it was that stiff. So there goes a tradition, one that will be missed by our family and millions of others.I guess now the United Center will need to find an event of some sort to fill in the dates that were reserved for us fans—-the circus has left our town.

Thanks for stopping by.