Salt Lake residents say they'll miss Ringling Bros. circus


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City residents said they will miss seeing the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus come to town.

Circus organizers said Saturday they were ending the "Greatest Show on Earth" after 146 years.

"I think it's sad," said resident Tim Harlow. "Sad for an American institution disappearing."

"It's something we grew up with and kind of sad that it's gone," said resident Kristin Cowan.

Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, the company that produces the circus, said the show had become unsustainable.

"Ringling Brothers ticket sales have been declining, but following the transition of the elephants off the road, we saw an even more dramatic drop. This, coupled with high operating costs, made the circus an unsustainable business for the company," Feld said in a statement posted to the Ringling Brothers website.

The circus retired elephants from the show in 2016 after criticism from animal rights groups.

Some think the circus also couldn't compete with increasing entertainment options.

"It's like tradition kind of got lost there," Cowan said. "For 146 years, that's something that we've always enjoyed. I think society's changed a lot, you know. It's not as cool as it used to be."

Harlow said it's disappointing Ringling Brothers will not be around for children to witness and enjoy in the future.

"I think it's going to be a shame for the little kids not to be able to see that," he said.

The circus will perform its final shows in May.

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Sean Moody

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast