The Great Circus Parade – July 12, 2009
On Sunday, July 12th, The Great Circus Parade will take place in Milwaukee! It’s been six years since the last parade in Milwaukee, and this year will mark the 30th parade. Thanks to the generosity of many donors and sponsors, this parade will have over 100 units, including 52 historic circus wagons from Circus World in Baraboo.
This is a wonderful event to experience and, best of all, it’s free! Here’s some information to help you plan for the parade:
Admission and Seating
The parade is free and open to the public. To get the best seats possible, people have been known to camp out along the parade route for days before the event. If sleeping on the sidewalk to reserve a spot isn’t your style, there are seating packages available.
VIP bleacher seating is available in front of the U.S. Cellular Arena along Kilbourn Avenue. The $35 per seat package includes:
- Reserved seating
- $6 in complimentary food and beverage coupons
- A souvenir seat cushion
- Exclusive access to air-conditioned, indoor seating, concession stands, and restrooms in the U.S. Cellular Arena
- Giant-screen scoreboard video and concourse monitors with broadcast Parade coverage and commentary
Reserved general admission bleacher seating also can be purchased through the Milwaukee County Parks. These bleacher seats are located on the O’Donnell Park plaza (near the orange sunburst sculpture and Betty Brinn museum). Tickets are $30 or a family four pack can be purchased for $100.
Marcus Hotels and Resorts also has various parade seat and dining packages at the Pfister and the Hilton Milwaukee City Center available for sale .
Parking
You’ll want to plan ahead to make sure you get good parking. Downtown streets will close at 11am, so you should park before 11am to avoid road closures along the parade route. The Great Circus Parade website suggests parking near O’Donnell park or U.S. Cellular Arena.
You can use the Park Milwaukee website to explore all your options for parking.
Parade Route and Schedule
Here is a PDF file of the parade route from The Great Circus Parade website.
11:00 am – Downtown streets close for parade. Bleachers and concession stands open. 1:30 pm – Parade rolls onto North Prospect and then Wisconsin Avenue. 2:00 pm – Parade reaches U.S. Cellular Arena 4:30 pm – Parade has passed and streets begin to reopenStreetza Pizza Promotion
Sunday will likely be a long day for many Great Circus Parade attendees. There will be official parade route vendors selling food and drink, and one worth checking out is Streetza Pizza. We follow Streetza Pizza on Twitter and asked them if they were planning to sell their pizza at The Great Circus Parade. Streetza informed us that they will be located on the corner of Broadway and Wisconsin Avenue from 10am to 4pm. Streetza has also offered readers of Milwaukee Consumer a free soda or water with the purchase of any slice. Just say that you read about them on Milwaukee Consumer! Streetza will also be handing out free frozen Flavor Ices, while supplies last. Check out Streetza’s story at Streetza.com.
HD Broadcast on MPTV
If you can’t make it to the parade, you can relax in the comfort of your own home and enjoy it on TV! MPTV will be televising the parade in HD. For more information, see the MPTV website.
Hotel Reservations
See Hotels.com or the various overnight room packages that Marcus Hotels & Resorts has at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center, the Pfister, and the Intercontinental Milwaukee.
The Great Circus Parade Festival and Showgrounds
The Great Circus Parade Festival and Showgrounds will be located in Veterans Park located on Milwaukee’s Lakefront. From Wednesday, July 8th, to Saturday, July 11th, see live tented performances of the Kelly Miller Circus, a petting zoo, antique bandorgans, animal rides, circus wagon displayes, a kiddie circus train ride, and hundreds of horses preparing for the Parade on July 12th. Admission to the showgrounds is free. Pricing info from the Festival website:
Kelly Miller Circus performances: $10 general admission; $12 for box seats. Parking in Veterans Memorial Park: $10 Wednesday and Thursday; $15 Friday and Saturday. Percheron horse rides: $5. Camel and pony rides: $4. Carousel, ferris wheel and circus train kiddie rides: $3. Petting zoo: free admission to look; feed for the animals 50¢-$1. Other activity prices: TBA. Order tickets by phone at 580-326-8345.
Festival and Showgrounds schedule from the Parade website:
Wednesday, July 8
Showgrounds open from noon to 10 pm. Kelly Miller Circus performance at 8 pm.
Thursday, July 9
Showgrounds open from 9 am to 10 pm. Kelly Miller Circus performances at 11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm and 8 pm.
Friday, July 10
Showgrounds open from 9 am to 10 pm. Kelly Miller Circus performances at 11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm and 8 pm.
Saturday, July 11
Showgrounds open from 9 am to 10 pm. Kelly Miller Circus performances at 10 am, 1 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm and 8 pm. Practice runs with wagons and teams begin at 9 am.
Sunday, July 12
Showgrounds closed to the public during the Great Circus Parade. The parade steps out at 1:30 pm.
Official Great Circus Parade Website
For more information, see The Great Circus Parade website.
Comments
7 Comments on The Great Circus Parade – July 12, 2009
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Tosa Todd on
Mon, 6th Jul 2009 11:07 AM
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Polly J. Knoll on
Thu, 9th Jul 2009 9:49 AM
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Milwaukee Consumer on
Fri, 10th Jul 2009 6:19 AM
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Milwaukee Consumer on
Sat, 11th Jul 2009 10:06 PM
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dwayne on
Sun, 12th Jul 2009 12:30 PM
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Milwaukee Consumer on
Mon, 13th Jul 2009 11:16 AM
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Maily Kocinski on
Wed, 15th Jul 2009 12:05 PM
Thanks for the info about the bleacher seats. With 3 kids, it isn’t worth it to me to get downtown so early to try to get a spot. According to the Journal Sentinel today there probably won’t be a Circus Parade in 2010. Who knows if and when we’ll ever be able to see this again….
I really like that with the bleachers by the US Cell arena you can go inside and use their bathrooms and get out of the heat (or rain). I never thought I would pay to see a parade, but I think it is going to be worth it.
Why hasn’t there been more notification–advertising? Friends of mine from Beaver Dam, WI have ridden in the parade for years….with a group called “The Bedouin Riders.” This year they never even received any paperwork to let them know they were invited to the parade..as of a few days ago.. They have a group of beautiful Arabian horses that are regally decorated and wonderfully mannered for a parade. What happened? Or is this just the circus wagons from Baraboo? Why was there no advertisement about the train arrival in various towns? The Great Circus Parade is so GREAT….
Hi Polly,
We agree…the Circus Parade is GREAT!
We suggest contacting the Circus Parade directly with your concerns. Their official website is http://www.thegreatcircusparade.com/
Thanks for your comment!
According to JSOnline, City Hall will be open from 8am to 6pm tomorrow so parade watchers can use their bathrooms.
i am looking online and no website has the damn route of the c.p.!
Dwayne,
Sorry to hear you couldn’t find the parade route. The information in the above post does include a link to a PDF of the parade route. Here is the link:
http://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/pdfs/ParadeRoute2009.pdf
Another successful, safe and beautiful parade! I loved riding in it and loved the thankful audience! Nothing is better than having a huge crowd cheer for your horse-we had a great time and hope it comes back in the future.
Bedouin Riders
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