SUNDAY MORNING NOW: Ringilng Is Staging Fake Birthday Party --- How Desperate Are the Felds for Attention?

Did you know that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is 150 years old?

I did not and I still do not. Pardon my resistance to groundless claims, but in order for it to be 150, it would have to have started out in the year of our lord, 1832

In fact, the show’s first “circus” as opposed to anything that occurred in Baraboo before 1884, gave it’s first performance in 1884.  Some nebulous sources (or AI) give them two more years, starting in 1882, when the brothers took out a winter hall show, performed on stages. This was not a circus then, all of which does not ad up to 150 years. The figure is 142.  And this includes 10 or more years off the road in re-creation..

So they opened in 1876 (if you have more accurate figures, please feel free to out my grammar school calculations.)

Why the bogus boast? I’m wondering if Kenneth Feld is desperate to reboot his monumental misfire?  Any new angle that might tweak a few more suckers up to the ticket counters. The video is a dazzler, one of their better misinformation campaigns. Such a far cry from their Monster Jam vulgarity.  In fact, those cunningly take-only-credit  Felds  have shown over the years a crass disregard  for circus history, when to rewrite it is to flatter themselves.  You may recall Irving Feld claiming to have saved  “saved” the circus following its big top crash in Pittsburgh, 1956 by moving the show indoors thereafter. Not so, it was John Ringling North and Art Concello who made the controversial move, and who hired a number of promoters to handle select dates, among them, the Feld Brothers.

BIG PICTURE QUESTION: Is crowd size this year up or down over last year?

AI: Crowd sizes and audience turnout for the reimagined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey tour are mixed to down, with reports indicating lower-than-hoped audience numbers in several stops despite producer claims of stable overall interest. [1, 2]  

Lower Turnout: Community discussions and reviews point to lighter crowds and underwhelming attendance at various arena stops.

History may one day write that the Felds would years later revamp the property down to an acrobatic show minus clowns and animals and ringmaster, and tossed out the  word “circus,’  probably one of the most technically honest things they ever did.  For after al, this emasculated enterprise is not a circus.

Today, I now and then try catching up on New Ringling travails, checking on Yelp anf Redit,combing the internet for clues of actual crowd sizes.  In this regard, we may give AI prime credit for not polishing  the facts like a good card-carrying circus fan. Here is what AI is telling me:

Seating capacity on  average-size indoor arenas?  Ranges from 14,000 to 20,000 seats.

Average Crowd Sizes? Actual attendance generally ranges from 2,000 to 5,000 people per performance,

This year, the show is staying on the West Coast through September:San Diego: Playing at the Pechanga Arena from September 11 to September 13, 2026.Sacramento: Playing at the Golden 1 Center from September 17 to September 20, 2026. They snubbed both LA. and S.F.


From Yelp critics:

Heather G.
San Francisco, CA
2
Jul 25, 2026.

Way to expensive, very disappointed, HIGHLY, my 4 year grandson, kept asking when we could leave he was boarded. THIS IS NOT A CIRCUS, it is a child's first "rave. Pathetic.  Go to Zoo instead       

BEST MIXED REVIEW

A. H.
Clovis, CA
Jul 3, 2026

"The acrobatic displays are some of the best in the world with the trapeze artists being exciting and graceful. The two opposite "wheels of death" were adrenaline-inducing with legitimate moments of tension and anxiety while the performers were running and flipping on top of them.

It definitely had its high moments. It also had some low ones.

You can't deny that the exclusion of animals, albeit probably the morally correct decision, left something to be desired. No more elephant or lion performances, no more old-fashioned carny fun; No more dirt bikes doing circles in the sphere cage, no more fire breathing or just general unhinged circus goofiness.

The sing-along dance segments comprised no small amount of the show time and get a bit boring after the first round of them.

All in all, it was fine. The kids had a blast singing and dancing, the unicycle daredevil shenanigans were neat. We enjoyed ourselves, but probably won't see it a second time, since the stars of the show (animals) are no longer a part of it.

It just doesn't have that same aura of excitement and wonder than it used to. But if you enjoy dance routines and acrobatics you'll have a good time."

Last word:

Jay J.
Sparks, NV
Mar 20, 2026

"The soul of the circus is gone. No magic, No humor, No clowns. Overwhelming amount of dancers on the floor. The target audience for the show are preteens. Totally missing 80% of the audience."

I ask, has Kenneth Feld a soul?  Has he lost his marbles?  How many years from now may these strange days of betrayal be remembered as the postmortem years?