Starting about 8:30 Thursday morning, circus fans have something exciting to look forward to.
The Kelly Miller Circus will roll into town and begin to set up the big top early that day, doing things the old-fashioned way.
“We’ll put the top up with the elephants and the public is invited to come out and watch,” said circus owner John Ringling North.
There will be two chances for the public to see the show at Hardy Murphy Coliseum — one at 4:30 p.m. and another at 7:30 p.m.
There’s no doubt that this experience will contain all the exciting and familiar trappings of a traditional circus. After all, North has “circus” running through his blood.
North is named after John Ringling of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus fame. John Ringling is also responsible for founding the Oklahoma town bearing his name, which honors its heritage with circus-themed signs welcoming guests who travel through.
North has always loved the circus and said the fact that others feel the same is “just lucky, I guess.”
“It just seems to be universal,” he said. “It takes you back to when life wasn’t so complicated.”
North said he worked as a clown and a general hand in the Ringling circus, and jumped at the chance to operate his own when the Kelly Miller Circus came up for sale.
“We have a traditional circus. We have the wild animal acts, elephants and acrobats and trapeze people and clowns,” he said. “Our drummer (and musical director), I went to college with and he ran away from college in 1960 to join Ringling Brothers and when I bought Kelly Miller, he decided to run away again and that’s what he’s doing now. He ran away again at the age of 66.”
North will oversee the circus setup and operation in Ardmore, and will be recognizable by his signature, “big white cowboy hat,” although he admits that he probably won’t be the only one wearing a cowboy hat in these parts.
Advance tickets are $9 for adults and $5 for children. They will be $12 and $6, respectively, on event day. They are available at The Bookseller and the Walmart branch of Citizens Bank in Ardmore, at the Flower Basket in Madill and at the Ringling High School library. On circus day only, they will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Homeland and Mountain View Mall in Ardmore.
