A Mudshow Season

Kenosha, WI. 57 miles. Asphalt lot. Overcast and mild. We are two days here at the dog track in Kenosha, our return to Wisconsin and the closest dates we play to Chicagoland this season. Shows today and tomorrow at 4:30 and 7:30. We are coming off a good day in Harvard, IL where the hosts worked hard to make Circus Day successful. Passing the exit for Delevan, WI early this morning I couldn't help but think that once Delevan was the unofficial circus center of America -- when Baraboo was still a proverbial wide spot on the road. We are or should be haunted by the ghosts of the mudshows that came before us, the places and the times they saw. Over 70 seasons how much have we forgotten of our own history? Circus lore is a deep vein running beneath the veneer of our national culture and the patina of our modern history. The dog and pony shows trotted out by startup execs in the Silicon Valley seeking venture capitol owe more to the dog and pony shows from whence we borrow the name than they can possibly imagine. Circus I sometimes like to think is the secret history, and sitting the grandstands on a summer night we all tap into that history and we are richer for it.