Shelburne Museum

SHELBURNE, Vt. (July 22, 2010)—Sunday, July 25 is Circus-palooza at Shelburne Museum. The fun filled affair for kids of all ages features performers, aerial acts and carnival games.

Circus-palooza celebrates Circus Day in America, a new exhibit that captures the Golden Age of the American circus from 1870 to 1950 when the circus coming to town was a local holiday — schools closed, factories shut down, and farmers left their fields all to attend the daylong spectacle.

Here are just some of the happenings planned for Circus-palooza:

• Aerial acts by former Cirque du Soleil performers Serenity Smith  Forchion and Bill Forchion
• The Vermont Joy Parade: strolling minstrels wander the grounds
• Face painting and temporary tattoos
• Juggling lessons
• Ring toss, balloon darts and other carnival favorites

Sunday’s event is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is regular museum admission $20 for adults; $10 for children 5-18. Vermont residents are $10 for adults and $5 for children.

Circus-palooza is a Family Day at Shelburne Museum sponsored by North Country Federal Credit Union.

About Shelburne Museum: Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont is one of North America’s finest, most diverse and unconventional museums of art, design and Americana. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in a remarkable setting of 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the museum grounds.  The museum’s collection includes works by the great Impressionists Claude Monet, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas as well as a prized collection of folk art including trade signs, weathervanes and quilts.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Strobridge Litho. Co, 3 Circuses and 3 Rings, ca. 1900, chromolithograph. Collection of Shelburne Museum. Image courtesy Shelburne Museum.