Shrine Circus: Fun For The Whole Family

I have the fondest memories of attending the Shrine Circus as a kid, so I was excited when my family was invited to see a behind-the-scenes look of the show in Laval, QC. Celebrating 250 years of the Zerbini family circus history, the circus is sponsored by the Shriners fraternal organization which is best know for their children’s hospitals.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a Shrine Circus representative who gave us our VIP passes. We then met the ring master who is an 8th generation circus performer. She explained how the circus is essentially a big family unit while showing us the facilities where the animals are kept. I was extremely surprised by how clean the tiger and horse living areas are. We also met the two resident circus elephants who had a clean area to relax.

 The ring master emphasized that their animals are not taken from the wild and are born in captivity. These animals take a lot of time and dedication. From what I observed, their caretakers were very close to them.  In the off season, they are taken to Florida where they have acres of land to roam.

After being shown around, we picked up some circus food – hot dogs, popcorn and lemonade before the other attendees arrived. My 2-year-old daughter Ava, munched on her food before getting her face painted with a cute butterfly.  Clowns also came around to interact with the children. Ava was a little nervous at first, but she definitely liked the clowns! She would stare at them and give them big smiles when they weren’t looking.

Being the first live event Ava has attended, I was curious to see if she would be able to sit still for a couple of hours. Luckily, the show started with the tiger act. She loves animals and the act really caught her attention. She especially liked clapping along with the audience after every trick.

It’s unbelievable how talented and dedicated the young performers are. The young Videla brothers showed off their fast paced manouevers on the unicycle while the extremely talented Poema family showed off their different acrobatic routines on the Russian swing and trapeze. It was evident how close these families were when watching their performances.

The Shrine Circus is a must see show for children of all ages. Ava had a great time and only became tired nearing the end of the second half of the show. We would go again.

Great news! Readers of Celeb Baby Laundry are able to get General Admission tickets at a discount, 2 for the price of 1. Visit Shrine Circus and enter the coupon code : FUN

Disclaimer: Celeb Baby Laundry has not received any payment as a result of this post. My family was given free tickets to attend the show.