Steven Helmer Publications

It's been a couple years since we went to Circus World in Baraboo, WI so I decided to put it on the calendar and take the family before school starts up. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as entertaining without the elephants (they retired after the last show we saw) but it was still a fun event with the Big Top Show featuring everything from jugglers to trapeze artists (the latter provided a warmup show outside about an hour before). We all had favorites and left with smiles on our faces. The multi-building museum was a nice way to kill time before the shows, full of educational exhibits and fun-looking wagons and train cars. Our daughters, one a teenager and one who is now 21, went on the $1 carousel twice (easily the oldest ones on it). It was a bit pricey at $23 each (the teenager category is the same price as adult), $92 total. I do think we got our money's worth though. My only real complaint was the concession stand was a bit more expensive than I would have pref...

Synopsis: A non-fiction and illustrated historical account of Wisconsin's circus heritage and the people who were responsible for bringing entertainment to the crowds. Review : I received Badger State Showmen as a birthday present a couple weeks ago and as someone who enjoys history, I decided to move it to the top of my reading list. Overall, it ended up being an enjoyable book. I knew, mostly from our visits to Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin had a long and historic connection to circuses. However, outside of only a handful of well-known circuses, I never really fully understood the full scope of that connection until reading this book, which also happened to be published by that museum. The authors put in quite a bit of detail too. I had expected this to be a brief summary of the various circus owners and performers, but the book goes far above and beyond in that regard. In fact, there were a number of pages and paragraphs I had to re-read just because I wasn't ...

We made a long-discussed family trip to Circus World in Baraboo, WI, the first time we have been there in about 14 years. This was motivated both by my oldest daughter turning 19 (she loves circuses) and because this is final season their elephants will perform. They are being retired later this year (and they are the same elephants that were there when we visited last time). This is something I would highly recommend. In addition to a one-ring circus, a music review and a highwire motorcycle act, there were a ton of circus artifacts throughout the property, housed in some original circus buildings. The circus wagons are must-see. Just make sure you have plenty of space on your camera memory card. I took a lot of photos today. Here are a bunch of them. Sorry in advance if some of the circus photos are a little blurry. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want to carry it all day, just my phone.