Drive Thru Circus

Come one, come all to the Pike County Public Library Drive Thru Circus! In this contactless show, we hired performers from The Cincinnati Circus to set up in the parking lot of our main library. Patrons could drive through the parking lot and watch performers from inside their vehicle.

The performers brought speakers and played music during the whole performance. At the entrance was a stilt juggler who spoke to each vehicle, and cracked jokes with the kids. He did a great job entertaining them, he was a favorite with the children.

Next was an Aerialist. Cars were encouraged to drive slowly but not completely stop (in order to keep traffic moving--we had a crowd!). Cars could circle around as many times as they liked.

There was also a Hooper, doing tricks with a hula hoop. She was impressive!

She would sometimes change it up with a silk that caught the wind beautifully.

There was also a whip artist, who did tricks with his whip that was sometimes on fire. He also alternated with juggling. We were originally supposed to have a Wheel of Death as well, but we had rain earlier that day and the pavement was wet. When they set it up, it kept sliding, so they were unable to use it safely. I think the whip artist was supposed to be involved in that act instead.

Another fire performer did some flaming juggling/balancing/throwing tricks.

He would occasionally switch to swords.It kept things interesting, and that way cars that drove around more than once could see different things.

They asked if they could set out a Tip Bucket near the exit, and we allowed them.

Some Census workers also came and set up at the exit to catch people and ask them if they had filled out the census, and advertise position openings.

We had a great turnout, and though the sky threatened rain the entire 2 hours, it never did. We ended with a count of 1,046 people that came through the parking lot.

The performers worked pretty much non-stop the full 3 hours, except the aerialist who took occasional breaks (understandable!).

We had 3 local news stations come cover the event. We also received a lot of positive feedback and would certainly have them back in the future.

We took the opportunity to promote our book collection while advertising the Drive Thru Circus with some circus-themed selections on social media.