Kenneth Feld, the chairman, and CEO of Feld Entertainment, the producer of the Ringling circus, made the announcement on the company’s website Saturday.
“I have made the difficult business decision that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® will hold its final performances in May of this year,” CEO Kenneth Feld said. Feld cited declining ticket sales and high operating costs in the decision to close the circus, according to the Associated Press.
Feld also added that the company’s decision to phase out the elephants because of shifting public sentiment and criticism from animal rights groups has also played a role in declining attendance. The company held its last show featuring elephants in May 2016, before completely retiring the animals to its 200-acre conservation center in Polk City, Florida, reports NPR.org.
Ringling was bought by the Feld family in 1967. The company has about 500 employees who work both touring shows, “Circus Extreme” and “Out of This World.” Employees were told of the closing Saturday night after finishing shows in Orlando and Miami.
Juliette Feld, Feld Entertainment’s Chief Operating Officer said, “Now that we have made this decision, as a company, and as a family, we will strive to support our circus performers and crew in making the transition to new opportunities.” The remaining animals, lions, tigers, camels, donkeys, alpacas, kangaroos and llamas will go to suitable homes. The Feld’s will continue to operate the Center for Elephant Conservation.
A tradition spanning a century -and-a-half is over
The Ringling circus dates back to a time before there were cars, airplanes or movies. Ulysses S. Grant was President and group entertainment consisted of minstrel shows. Ringling Brothers and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth were two successful circus shows that had been operating independently of each other for years.
But it soon became obvious to the Ringling brothers that combining their show with the older Barnum and Bailey circus would be a good economic move. The two shows joined forces and on March 29, 1919, the “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows” debuted in New York City.
The circus has depended on the railroad to move from city to city across the country. Currently, the circus maintains two circus train-based shows, the Blue Tour and the Red Tour. each train is a mile long with roughly 60 cars: 40 passenger cars and 20 freight.
Referring to the Circus, Feld said, “It’s been through world wars, and it’s been through every kind of economic cycle and it’s been through a lot of change. In the past decade, there’s been more change in the world than in the 50 or 75 years prior to that. And I think it isn’t relevant to people in the same way.”