ASPEN- After more than 100 years of thrilling audiences across the country, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are taking their final bows. The circus with its animals and acrobats, trapeze artists and clowns, recently announced that it would permanently fold its tent.

According to published reports, the circus will perform 30 shows before it closes this year. CEO Kenneth Feld stated on FOX8 that this was a “difficult business decision.”

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus were founded in 1911 year, and are based in Baraboo, Wis.  They travel to different locations by train. The high cost of traveling along with the animals and cast were said to influence the decision. So too was the removal of elephant acts because of protests by animal rights activists.

John Wyman of Basalt was once a clown in The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He performed from 1975-1982. Wyman said he will miss the circus and said it will close in May. He has fond memories about life in the circus.

“The people, they were a family with quite a few foreigners and gypsy-type people,” Wyman said. “That family extended to the animals, but Wyman said he also thinks circus animals are treated better now because of the work of PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals).

The full cast of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus includes between 250 and 300 people.

Audra Quist, mother of two AHS students, said that thinking about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus bring back childhood memories of her and her family going to the shows in Madison Square Garden, in New York City.

“As a kid I would have killed to be in that ring,’’ Quist said.