Not my circus

A friend sent me a t-shirt that reads, "Not my circus, not my monkeys." It's a Polish proverb meaning, "Not my problem."

The monkey in the picture is the only one of about thirty that Tom used to have. We gave the rest of them to the Children's Librarian a couple of years ago to use as she saw fit. For a while, whenever we visited a thrift store, Tom would look for monkeys and I would look for dragons. (We were that kind of circus.)

The t-shirt is perfect for many reasons, among which is the upcoming Circus Parade in Baraboo. Baraboo will celebrate the 130th anniversary of the Ringling Bros. Circus, Saturday, July 26, with the second annual Big Top Parade, processing around its historic downtown courthouse square district. (I used to work at a law office on the square, and the "not my circus, not my monkeys" t-shirt would have been perfect office garb.)

Clowns march in front of the Al. Ringling Theater, just a few doors down from where I used to work.

The parade will consist of more than 75 units, including 14 antique, wood-carved circus wagons from Circus World Museum. Bernie, the guy who runs the steam engine at the little railroad where Tom volunteers, helps maintain the circus wagons and the steam calliope at the museum.

Baraboo has the distinction of being the historic home of numerous circuses, including the world-renowned Ringling Bros. Circus, and the current-day home of Circus World Museum and the International Clown Hall of Fame.

The Ringling Bros. Circus was founded in Baraboo 130 years ago in 1884. The show's winter quarters were located along the banks of the Baraboo River until 1918. During those 34 years, the business grew from a small operation with a handful of employees to a circus empire consisting of the three largest circuses in America, each employing more than a thousand performers and workers. Circus World preserves eight of the surviving winter quarters structures, the largest such group in North America, which has been declared a National Historic Landmark Site.