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Shrine Circus on Tour
For more than a century, the Shrine Circus has dazzled audiences around the U.S. with family-friendly delights. Shriners chapters all over the country sponsor these circuses annually, offering their members a chance to reach out to the community and giving children of all ages the chance to see thrilling stunts and exotic animals at reasonable prices. The Shrine Circus has been a bedrock of many American communities' yearly calendars for decades, creating a long-lasting tradition that builds bonds both in and between families.
Shrine Circus Background
Established in 1872, Shriners International has been one of America's premier fraternities promoting fellowship and brotherhood. Known throughout the world for their philanthropic efforts with Shriners Hospitals for Children, which offers sliding-scale medical services to children in need of orthopedic, cleft lip and palate, burn, and spinal injury care, the Shriners have also been beloved for the circuses they put on around the country.
Similar to the mission of the Shriners Hospitals, the Shrine Circus puts the idea of affordability for all families front and center. The first Shrine Circus was held in 1906 in Detroit at the Moslem Shrine Center. Since then, Shrine chapters all around the country have put on their own versions of the big show. While the circuses are more often held inside arenas than under big tops, attractions remain familiar, varying from city to city but usually including massive elephants, kooky yet friendly clowns, and high-flying acrobats.
Circus stars like the Wallendas, Clyde Beatty, and the Zacchinis have all been included in the Shrine Circus' past lineups. In 2019, the Detroit Shrine Circus featured the Dominguez Motorcycle Stunt Show, made up of former Ringling Bros. daredevils who perform death-defying tricks while encased in a steel globe. The St. Paul Osman Shrine Circus is the longest continuously running Shrine Circus in the U.S.
The Circus was pretty good but I have seen the Ringling Brothers Circus and it is better but the Arab Shrine Circus benefits the Shriners. The electronic ticket on my phone sucked for the most part and there was nothing about not being able to carry a pocket knife into the arena. I had to go back out to my car to save my knives. From Kansas and everyone carries a knife.
The Circus was supposed to start at 7:30 PM and didn’t start till 8 PM due to the rides and face painting etc. Then the intermission itself ran long so that they could do the animal rides because they weren’t doing them after the circus. So we left at 10:15 PM and the circus was still going on at that time. The timeframe and the timeline of the circus is what made it not the greatest event in my opinion. If there is a time to start then it needs to start on time and if intermission is only supposed to be a certain amount of time intermission should only be that amount of time it should not be changed during the program.
Loved watching the circus, but I do miss the lions and elephants. Grandkids had a great time and we took an advantage of the events in between shows. Grandkids loved the pony and camel rides, face painting, and bounce house.
I grew up going to the Shrine Circus yearly. This year was a bit of a disappointment. No trapeze artists? Elephants? Just wasn’t very captivating. The upside didn’t guy was cool, and the motorcycle guys at the end. Everything in between was just meh.
It was very entertaining the children clapped and laughed what a great afternoon. Thank You to the Shriners for putting on the entertainment they all deserve a round of applause!
We attended the 2:00pm Sat matinee. Purchased tickets in advance. Found our reserved seats. It was 1:50pm. They did have it set up!!! The circus did not start until 2:30pm!!!! Then the introduction took another 15min. Very poorly ran!! We left before intermission! I meant Ed it when asked why we are leaving and I explained the above. Their comment was they were waiting for people to get thru the merchandise and food lines!!! Not goood! These people elect to do this. They need to arrive ahead or wait during intermission or after the show! Very disappointed! My $100 plus $37 at least went I hope to a good cause.
All of the performances were good. When compared to the circus we saw 7 years ago, this circus didn’t hold attention as well. There were 3 rings but not enough acts to fill 2 rings at a time. So the kids didn’t have so etching to always occupy their attention.
I have gone to the shrine circus for years, I was disappointed by some of the performances, the sound quality wasn’t great and me and my son had trouble hearing what was said. I was disappointed that some of the stunts weren’t higher up like they used to be and there was no tigers. Overall it was an okay experience, but I think it could of been better.
The shriners are great with kids and it is a fun time. Disappointed in the incredibly long intermission to squeeze extra money out of families through photo ops though. Everyone had to wait for photo lines to end and the main floor to be cleared before the 2nd half could start. Took so long we ended up leaving before the 2nd half.
Definitely not worth it at all left half of the show was very disappointed
For kids, this was a lot of fun. However, it started 30 minutes late, which for kids that doesn’t fly and led to meltdowns.
The event was nice. The performances were good and kept the kids entertained throughout the show. The only downside is the picture was misleading…. No elephants. Dogs, camels, ponies and a giant pig though.
Experience with ticketmaster was great. Quick, efficient, no complaints. My low review is the circus itself - the hog looked very uncomfortable, kept switching legs as if it hurt; the camels were legit afraid of the whip the lady was using - she kept hitting the sides of their faces to keep em trotting; the ponies were staged directly behind the curtians, which was where the BMX riders were landing and turning around.
First time going in years and a far cry of what it was in the past. Clowns weren’t as friendly or open to interaction with kids and families. Also the acts no where near the past, the kids favorite part was the stunts on the dirt bikes.
We had a great time, the only thing I'd like to see improved were the speakers. It was difficult to understand the ring master and the music amplified louder and clearer would've pumped the audience up more.
Overall the show was extremely basic. Is the universal soul circus 1000 times better.
This was an amazing show. The performers are very talented people. Our 2 year old and 5 year old’s attention were captured the entire time. We were also entertained as adults. Will highly recommend to family and friends!
Sunday 4:30pm performance didn’t start on time. The doors did not open an hour early as posted, it was 30 minutes before the printed time. However, the circus started almost 1 hour late. Then you add an HOUR intermission, the 2nd half was getting ready to start at 7:15pm! Supposedly all kid friendly, yet kids don’t have the attention span for all the introductions, and the clowns doing a math problem on a tiny white board. Then 3 guys juggling (dropping) things, and getting 3 people from the audience to bang a symbol or bang a drum whenever he pointed at them. …. Not exactly thrilling. For kids or for adults! Where are the animals? Besides the ponies you could pay $10 to sit on, or the 2 camels you could sit on for $10. We were so disappointed. Why don’t the clowns walk in the stands? Take pictures with kids? Do some funny acts? Do something! All they do is sign autographs. Again, so boring. If you can’t have animals, then you need to update your image that shows animals!!!!
Showed started an hour after listed time (started at 5:25 when show was listed at 4:30). Hard to keep a 3 year old occupied for an hour. All sorts of money making tactics. Long intermission. So long that we had to leave to go do bedtime for my kids.
It was a really great circus and it was for a really great cause! I'm happy we went. Although, the logo for this event CLEARLY indicates there are elephants, lions, and tigers involved with the show, which there are not, which was a huge letdown for us. I had promised the kids those animals because I was definitely under the impression they'd be there... I understand that many members of the host organization would love to have those animals in the show, so it isn't their fault, but, maybe consider taking them out of the logo as it seems like false advertising.
