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Rookie Mom

Ringling Museum has circus history, more

By KATHERINE SNOW SMITH
Published October 30, 2005

We recently had the grandparents in town and were looking for a day trip that would please our whole group - ages 2 to 75. So we decided to try the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, and it turned out to be a good outing.

The museum is actually made up of three parts, the circus museum, an art museum and Ca' d'Zan, the waterfront mansion built by John and Mable Ringling in 1926.

One ticket gets you into all three. Adult tickets cost $15; seniors pay $12. Children 12 and under and teachers with ID get in free.

The circus museum was the highlight for all of us, not just my kids. We enjoyed the first floor of Ca' d'Zan, which means "House of John" in Italian.

It had high ceilings and windows with panes of assorted colors, looking out over Sarasota bay. The ornate furniture, marble floors and gold and jeweled appointments reminded my girls of castles they've seen in Disney movies.

The only way to view the 32-room mansion is on a 45-minute guided tour. So with our 2-year-old son in tow, three of us - myself, my mother-in-law and my 6-year-old interior designer in the making - stayed for the whole tour and made it to the second floor.

The others sat on a sunny terrace right on the bay and waited.

When we entered the circus museum, the first thing we saw was an authentic tiny clown car and gas pump. One of the docents told us how the actual clowns once used the props.

For instance, a clown might get in and out of the car, try to back it up close to the gas pump, then, giving up, pick up the whole car and carry it to the pump. He has plenty of stories to tell visitors, though you are allowed to tour the museum on your own.

Another room features a complete miniature circus with moving parts. The three rings are under big top tents about 2 feet high.

Kids and adults point finger after finger at the tiny tightrope walkers, tigers jumping through hoops and dancing bears.

The real circus train cars on the perimeter of this room were my favorite part of the museum.

The ornate carvings and painting make each one a work of art and piece of history. I covered up the informational plaque and had my kids guess which animal went in each car based on the design of the car. One car had a lower box in the middle because it carried seals contained in water.

Another room features memorabilia such as giant clown shoes, sequined leotards and lion tamers' jackets and a cannon that fired death-defying circus performers. There are interesting newspaper clippings on the wall, including several hailing Ringling's decision to move the circus' winter headquarters to Sarasota and others telling of the tragic circus fire in Hartford, Conn. Though many performers rushed spectators to safety, 167 people, mostly mothers and children, died that day. An arsonist later admitted setting the fire.

There also is a circus playroom under its own big top with puzzles, games, trick mirrors and a television continuously running old circus videos.

Though we loved this museum, a bigger and better circus museum is under construction and slated to open Jan. 14 within the existing 66-acre Ringling campus.

After spending more than two hours on the mansion and the circus museum, we decided not to tour the art museum but walked a little through the beautiful grounds full of banyan trees and a picturesque rose garden instead.

There's also a great gift shop with many unique books, toys and art projects related to the circus.

Log on to www.ringling.org or call 941 359-5700 for more information.

[Last modified October 30, 2005, 01:13:18]