Baraboo News Republic story

Everybody really loves the parade: Happy Days return to streets of Milwaukee

Associated Press
By Brian D. Bridgeford / News Republic-->

Boys and girls of all ages packed downtown Milwaukee curbs and cheered for clowns, marching bands and elaborately carved and colorful circus wagons as the Great Circus Parade rolled by after a six-year hiatus.
In the culmination of more than a year of work by staff at Baraboo’s Circus World Museum and fundraising efforts by Milwaukee sponsor Great Circus Parade, Inc., the parade’s 52 circus wagons, 250 horses and 30 bands moved through the city for the first time since 2003. That had been the last Milwaukee parade because financial problems ended support by a major donor. The parade also rolled through Baraboo in 2004 and 2005.
In addition to being seen along a two-hour route beginning on the Great Circus Festival grounds near Lake Michigan, the parade was also broadcast live by Milwaukee Public Television and could be seen via public television stations around the state and around the country.
Viewed on Madison’s Channel 21, the spectacle kicked off with an honor guard carrying United States and other flags followed by a Milwaukee-based military band.
Early in the parade horse-drawn carriages appeared carrying many local and state notables including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl and Governor James Doyle and First Lady Jessica Doyle. Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker looked very dapper and braved a very sunny, warm day in a 19th Century-style top hat and long coat with tails.
Also leading the parade was a wagon carrying smiling and waving Circus World Musem performers including the Duo Fusion hand-balancing team and Los Antons acrobats.
Children could be seen sitting on the curb watching and clapping as a group of five African elephants passed in their stately manner.
Gilded and colorful CWM wagons like the Ringling Bros. United States Tableau wagon drawn by a team of eight draft horses passed while a band played from a perch atop it. Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty figures strode by standing very tall on stilts.
Among the many clowns participating in the event was 92-year-old veteran movie actor Ernest Borgnine, a longtime fan of clowning and parade participant. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he saw "nothing but miles and miles of smiles" along the parade route.
Caught by cell phone at the parade grounds as the last wagons and parade participants were completing the route, parade director and CWM singing Ringmaster Dave Saloutos said he was excited with how well it went and relieved a year of heavy work was completed successfully.
"They loved it, absolutely loved it," he said. "Children of all ages is really the catch phrase for this one, from little kids all the way up to grandma and grandpa, just loving it."
Saloutos said the crowd gave big applause for patriotic-themed parade participants such as a 50-state marching unit and marching band from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois.
"(The naval band) was awesome," he said. "I actually started to shed a tear when they started playing, they were so dynamic."
Later in the parade on a wagon with the theme "United We Stand," Saloutos said a large number of older veterans and young military recruits took part.
"We had them going back to Korea," he said. "I think we had a World War II vet in there. And then the young recruits that haven’t yet gone to service.
"That got a big applause from the audience."
There were places along the parade route where parade watchers were stacked 20-people deep and other people sought out locations from which to watch the parade that nobody has ever used before, said CWM Executive Director Steve Freeze.
"It was absolutely phenomenal," he said. "They are telling me this might be the second largest crowd ever to come to the Great Circus Parade.
"It was absolutely huge," Freese said.
Drivers of the horse-drawn wagons reported people yelling out to thank them for bringing the parade back to Milwaukee, he said.
Shortly after the parade Wagon Superintendent Harold "Heavy" Burdick said he was busy packing things up for the trip back to Baraboo and didn’t have much time for comment. "The parade went excellently," he said.
Freese said there are no plans to have a parade next year or to continue it on an annual basis as it once was. Instead, the next parade will depend on when managers of Great Circus Parade, Inc., local and state officials decide they want to do it again.
"They may look at when they are going to do the next parade," he said. "But it will really be up to them.
"We would be happy as soon as somebody wants to hire us to do it," Freese said. "It would really be a great thing to do."
The live PBS broadcast of the return of the Great Circus Parade was seen in television markets where 50 percent of the United States population live, he said. And that means more people will hear about CWM and could be drawn to visit the museum.
"Unlike in years past when it might be live in Wisconsin, it was live in Los Angeles, live in New York, live in Boston, live in Washington, D.C.," he said. "In all the bigger cities of this country they were carrying this live on public television."
Saloutos agreed the return of the parade will be good for attracting people to visit CWM in the future. And he agreed the work of putting on the parade in Milwaukee is worth the effort.
"It’s a big economic impact for us in many ways," he said. "It can’t be done anywhere else and it isn’t done anywhere else."
Saloutos said he looks forward to a future Great Circus Parade. However, since each parade requires nearly a year of work, he was glad there are no plans for a Great Circus Parade 2010.
"Whenever it happens, it will be a great thing," he said. "But I haven’t heard any definite plans."
Saloutos said many people helped make the parade a success, including volunteers brought together by Baraboo resident Ralph Pierce who helped to keep the parade moving in an orderly manner.
"Everybody, from wardrobe and the musicians and teamsters, and the equestrians that brought this thing to life and the clowns, it was wonderful," he said.
Freese said Saloutos, magician and museum staff member Tristan Christ and Wagon Superintendent Burdick did a tremendous amount of work to make the event happen. It was a phenomenal job, he said.
Because of the $1.5 million Great Circus Parade, Inc. put into the parade, Saloutos said museum craftspeople have been able to restore many wagons to beautiful condition for future visitors. Supporting that restoration is another good outcome of the parade, he said.
"This is our heritage, our circus heritage," Saloutos said. "It’s something I feel very strongly about being a Baraboo person."