Elephants lead way as circus comes to town
Children and families lined a two-mile route Tuesday morning in Des Plaines, eager to see what has become an annual tradition in November: elephants on parade.
Two days before the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus opens for its 10-day run, the animals made their way from the railroad tracks at Howard Street to the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Traffic stopped Tuesday morning along portions of southbound Wolf Road and eastbound Touhy Avenue, for the circus parade, which also included flatbed trucks carrying circus containers filled with gear.
Led by a police motorcycle escort, and backed by Des Plaines street cleaners, the parade opened with six Asian elephants, followed by nearly a dozen Arabian horses.
"It's awesome," said 9-year old Niamh Smith of Des Plaines.
Her friend, 6-year old Zack Norman, concurred, as he rushed to keep up with the procession that moved quickly along its route.
"I've never seen elephants that close before," Zack said.
Even adults broke away from their workday to catch the rare sight of elephants marching through the suburbs.
"We used to watch the circus trains pull into Baraboo, Wis.," said Dan Newell of Rolling Meadows. "It's always exciting. It gives me chills."
Right at the start, as the elephants stepped off, they turned to the crowd along the street and all lifted their left leg, before lifting their right one, and then their back feet. It even appeared as if right on cue, they were waving to the crowd with their trunks.
It turns out their impromptu performance was more about health maintenance than saluting their fans. Since the elephants stepped from the train onto gravel, their trainers wanted to check their hoofs to make sure no stones were embedded.
Ringmaster Chuck Wagner led one group of rustlers, as they carried a rope the length of the elephants' procession, separating the huge pachyderms from the crowd.
"It's good for the elephants and good for the crowd," Wagner said of the parade. "We do it at every stop, but this was nothing. Sometimes we have to walk up to six miles.
"This was like a walk in the park, literally," Wagner added, "with the lake (Lake Opeka) and trees and the beautiful day."
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus runs from Nov. 6-16 at the Allstate Arena, before moving to the United Center in Chicago, from Nov. 18-30. Call (312) 559-1212 for tickets, or visit www.ringling.com.