CWM

Circus World Museum faces uncertain future


Mark Hoffman
Illusionist Tristan Crist poses behind the fan that he appears to step through at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, which is struggling to attract visitors and money.
from:  jsonline.com
By Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel
May 5, 2013
Baraboo - Off-season at Circus World Museum, and magician Tristan Crist works through his repertoire of tricks and illusions, trying to thrill a crowd of 10 spectators in a theater that seats 350.
The smile never leaves Crist's face as he tangles and untangles ropes and rubber bands and magically appears to step through a mirror and a rotating fan. After all, the show must go on, even if the only ones watching are a group of six women in their 70s and two middle-aged couples.
"I think our challenge is getting a younger generation interested in the circus," Crist says between performances.It's a tough sell for Circus World, made tougher still by a battle for control beneath the big top.

The library and research center at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo is a noted repository of circus information. - Image credit: Mark Hoffman
The museum's property, including 220 historic circus wagons, is owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, a state agency and private membership organization. A local group, the Circus World Museum Foundation, has operated the site for more than half a century and preserved the extensive collection of circus memorabilia.
But no one has been able to put Circus World on stable financial ground.
Last week , the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee rejected a plan proposed by Gov. Scott Walker to have the Historical Society take over the struggling museum's operations. Under the proposal, the state would have pumped in cash to prop up the site, which attracts around 70,000 people a year.
The committee also voted against a plan backed by five members to give the foundation up to $300,000 a year.
The public-private partnership remains in force. But the future is anything but certain.

 

Steve Freese, the executive director of the Circus World Foundation, is shown with a portrait of the legendary showman P.T. Barnum., painted around 1847. - Image credit: Mark Hoffman
The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said in a report that "there is little debate that the Foundation's current business model is unable to sustain its operations, and state support is necessary if the site is to remain open to the public."
Local officials and foundation members say they're ready for the tourist season. Circus World is open for business and ready to entertain, with the summer performance set to run from May 18 to Sept. 2, with two big-top circus shows daily.
Baraboo without the circus would be unthinkable. This was the hometown of the Ringling Brothers and the winter quarters of their famed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Along the banks of the Baraboo River stand the surviving winter quarters buildings, remnants of an age when the circus was a major form of entertainment in big and small towns and cities across America.
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