Gaffney Rotary Club bringing circus to town

Gaffney Rotary Club is bringing the Carson & Barnes Family Circus to town for two shows on Friday, May 9, at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The 3-Ring circus is the world's largest under the big top and will set up at Orchard Park, I-85, Exit 87. This event will be a fundraiser for the Rotary Club while also promoting tourism in Cherokee County.

Co-sponsors for the event are Buford St. Drug / ACE Hardware, Broad River Electric Co-operative, the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, and Duke Energy Carolinas.

Carson & Barnes features top performers and 75 exotic animals. This will mark the 71st year of performances by the circus. It takes 62 vehicles to transport the self-contained unit which can entertain 4,400 people per day.

The public is invited out on the morning of May 9 to watch the workers and elephants set up the football field size tent. In order to feed the animals each day, the circus uses 1,500 pounds of hay, grain, fruits and vegetables all of which they buy locally.

The Carson and Barnes Circus will be reminiscent of the Ringling Bros. Circus in the '40s and '50s before it moved to indoor arenas. This event will allow the baby boomer generation and earlier to relive a piece of American history. Reasonably priced food, drinks and snacks will be available and parking will be a close walk to the monstrous tent.

Advance tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children under 12 and can be purchased at American Community Banks, Buford St. Drug, Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, Cherokee County Public Library, Correll Insurance, Palmetto Bank and Troy Gaffney Allstate Insurance.

Call 489-5721 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, for further information.