The Great Circus Parade

After a six-year-hiatus due to budget shortfalls, The Great Circus Parade makes a grand (though temporary) return to the streets of Milwaukee today. Second in size only to the Rose Bowl Parade and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, this $1.5 million event marks the 50th anniversary of the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wis. Rolling out this year will be 52 historic circus wagons built in the late 18th century, pulled by an estimated 300 horses of various breeds, along with 10 marching bands and 14 bandwagon bands. The parade is set to march west down Wisconsin Avenue before it rolls through some of Downtown’s main thoroughfares to wind up on Michigan Street.