Friday, August 19, 2011


Circus comes to Newark, DE this weekend


By Josh Shannonjshannon@cecilwhig.com

Published: Thursday, August 18, 2011

Elephants, tigers and lots of clowns will take over a field east of Newark this weekend when the Cole Bros. Circus comes to town.The circus, hosted by the service group Wilmington Jaycees, will set up the big tent at the Our Lady of Grace Home at 487 E. Chestnut Hill Road and put on a total of seven shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday.The circus, which began in 1884, has 40 performers and another 80 support staff and puts on hundreds of shows all along the East Coast each year.It has been coming to Newark for more than 20 years, said Marketing Director Mario Vitali.“We usually do different towns every year, but the Wilmington Jaycees keeps asking us to come back because we do good here every year,” Vitali said.


Many crowd favorites will return, including trapeze artists, clowns, a motor show and the human cannonball.However, Vitali said, the approximately 25 animals in the show usually prove to be the most popular act.“Everyone loves the elephants and everyone loves the tigers,” he said.For the first time this year, the public will get the chance to get up close to the elephants and feed them fruit.Those interested can come to the circus at 1 p.m. Friday. The elephants will eat any type of fresh fruit except watermelon, but for the animals’ safety, the fruit must be pre-packaged“We’ve been coming here so long, we wanted to give the residents here something special,” Vitali said.Also new this year is an additional tiger act, a performance by multi-colored cartoon poodles and a demonstration by a woman who can do a one-finger handstand.Show times this weekend are: 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday; 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Sunday.Tickets are $19 for adults and $14 for children. They can be purchased at the gate or in advance by calling 1-800-796-5672 or visiting gotothecircus.com.




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