As we approach summer, excitement is already beginning to build for big annual festivals. But what was the biggest entertainment event before TV, movies or even radio was widely available? The circus, of course. 

Traverse City was visited by a few different big tops and side shows in its earliest years, the first of which was attributed to Levi J. North, a former Chicago alderman The New York Times described as “without exception the most celebrated circus rider of his day.” North brought his circus to town in May 1869, and the program would be impressive even today, to say nothing of what the experience would have been like four decades before electricity came to town.

Like today, horse shows were a major draw, and Mr. North’s Traveling Circus was more than happy to provide. In a Grand Traverse Herald advertisement, they promised that “the thousands who have visited Mr. North’s Circus within the past twenty years can testify to the high reputation everywhere sustained by this establishment, and, to the refined and fashionable character of its audiences, which has so handsomely supported it. It is only necessary to state that this GIGANTIC COMPANY [was] selected from the popular schools of the old and new world … and that their performances will be found MORE VARIED, STARTLING and ATTRACTIVE than anything of the kind heretofore witnessed on this continent.”

Included in this “Galaxy of Equestrienne Stars” would be Little Minnie Marks, “the smallest and youngest equestrienne in America, and Child Champion Rider of the World, Whose sprite-like riding charms the old and enraptures the young.” If that doesn’t get you queuing for a ticket, Mr. North himself was also part of the show: “The successful Animal Trainer and Maitre de Cirque … will introduce his beautiful trick horse MONITOR, whose instinct has been developed into thought, and who by word of command along executes most celebrated tricks.” 

Also on display: Animal trainers, trick riders, jugglers, trapeze artists, acrobats, clowns like J. L. Davenport, “the embodiment of fun, wit, originality and humor” and “Mr. Hi Marks, the notoriously funny clown and comic singer,” and Prof. MacDonald’s Acting Bears, described as “uncouth monsters … rare specimens and independent of their training are objects of special interest.” 

How could one resist? 

The price of entry? A reasonable fifty cents for adults (roughly $11 today) and 25 cents for kids under 10. Can’t make it to the performance? Then you certainly wouldn’t have missed the circus parade, which was “headed by the elegant, new, light Band Carriage containing Prof. Frank Squarelli’s Magnificent Band, followed by a long line of cages and a cavalcade of Ladies and Gentlemen.” 

The populace had to wait a few more years for the return of another traveling sideshow, but in 1872 the Conklin Bros. Circus and Samwell’s Troupe of Educated Animals steamed into town. For one day only, attendees could watch as three amazing “novelties” performed before them: “A Goat that Rides on Horseback Like a Man. A Dog that Plays Clown. A Comical Elephant that Turns a Summersault.” Not to mention the Prince of Clowns himself, Pete Conklin, plus “A Full Corps of the Finest Performers In The Profession.” 

Discerning advertisers realized that a circus appearing in town was a good way to draw attention to their own wares. A bookstore owner and insurance salesman named S.C. Fuller posted an ad in the Evening Record reminding patrons that “Whether you see Prof. Samwell’s trained animals or not, do not fail to see Samuel’s Books … whenever you are on Front Street., Traverse City, next Saturday or any other time.” That was followed by an ad that reads as though the entire town was threatened by elephant trampling: “LOOK OUT FOR THE ELEPHANT! Look out for yourself. Accident Insurance Policies issued on short notice.”

A more impressive display than either Mr. Conklin or Mr. North came to town in May 1887, when the Sell’s Brothers brought what they called the “Greatest and Grandest Show Ever in Michigan … [a] vast, overshadowing AMUSEMENT TREASURE of the UNIVERSE.” Boasting a true three-ring experience, one ticket got you “3 ½ Hours of Dazzling, Fascinating Entertainment” that was “Big, Brilliant and Bewildering in Every Department!” 

And behold the brilliant shade thrown at other operators: “Before this Supremely Magnificent Amusement Festival of the Always Progressive Sell’s Brothers, the Puny and Ludicrous Imitations of Rival Managers Wither, Sicken and Fade Away.” 

Beyond that, the show offered an hour of circus entertainment “with 300 Meteoric Performers,” plus a Gladitorial Contest, a “Wild West” show hosted by one “Pawnee Bill,” plus a museum with “1,000 Marvelous Animate and Inanimate Curios” and a traveling Zoo dubbed the “Greatest Gathering since Noah’s Day.” And yes, there were elephants like Rajah and, performing in the “Greatest, Grandest, Most Famous and Best Trained Herd on American Soil.” 

If nothing else, circus owners knew how to sell. 

This show even earned itself a review in the Grand Traverse Herald on June 2nd: “We have yet to hear the first expression of disappointment. A noticeable feature of this show this season is the absence of all stale and oftentimes vulgar jokes, so called, of the clowns. The day for those is past.

The Herald also loved the horse show, noting the trapeze work “could not be surpassed,” and “All in all the circus proper was rather an innovation on the old established and somewhat threadbare performances that have been given for the last thirty or forty years.” 

Even in the late 1880s, the circus was already considered an old-timey attraction.