Big Apple Circus Will Be Back For Its 40th Season Next Fall
Feb. 15, 2017, 4:20 p.m.
A bankruptcy court has allowed a company to purchase the circus.
Courtesy Ed Newman's flickr
The Big Apple Circus presumably died last year after it was unable to raise $2 million to stay open and filed for bankruptcy in November. Thankfully, the circus has been saved—it found a buyer, and will come back in time for its 40th anniversary next fall.
An NYC institution since 1977, the Big Apple Circus began struggling financially around the economic downturn in 2008, and suffered even more in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Last summer, they tried to scrape up $2 million for fundraising to stay open, but fell over $1 million short of their goal, scrapping their 2016-17 season. But yesterday the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York okayed a $1.3 million auction bid from Big Top Works, which is an affiliate of a Florida-based investment firm. THEY'RE BACK, BABY.
Big Top Works will have to maintain the Big Apple Circus's various programs and special performances for low income and special needs children, as part of the court-ordered action. It's unclear whether they'll hold next season at Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, as it has done for the last few decades.
The Big Apple Circus won't have the same competition when it returns—the Ringling Bros. circus will shut down after May thanks to a massive drop in revenue.
