[shimmery music] - I'm having a blast at Circus World while trapezing through the historic treasures found here.

[whistle blowing] - Ringleader: Welcome to Circus World!

[circus music] - Come one, come all to enjoy camels, clowns, and a human cannonball [cannon pops] here at Circus World.

To learn a bit more about the history here, I met up with Scott O'Donnell, who wasn't clowning around... just yet.

- Scott O'Donnell: So, we opened July 1st, 1959, to celebrate the state of Wisconsin's vibrant circus heritage.

We're here in Baraboo because it was the hometown of the Ringling Bros., who started their circus here in 1884, and their personal attorney, John M. Kelly, at the tender age of 93, decided that this state needed to celebrate its vibrant circus heritage.

- So, would you say Wisconsin has been the lead contributor, historically, to circuses around the nation?

- Without a doubt!

It's been the incubator and the cultural epicenter for this art form that has been around as part of the American experience longer than Coca-Cola, the Kentucky Derby, and baseball in America.

Really, if you take the map, and you throw a dart at it, you're gonna get on it really close to a town where a circus came from in this great state.

- So, connect us to what that means when we come to Circus World.

Like, what should I expect to experience?

- Scott O'Donnell: Well, 64 acres of a living history museum.

The Big Top Show is our signature piece, where you get to sit under a big, billowing, red and white big top tent, as people have done for generations in America, and it's filled to the gills with talent.

We have singing ringmasters and funny clowns.

We have daring aerialists which are 40 feet up in the air.

We have jugglers and acrobats and contortionists, and some amazing animal partners with us, as well.

But there's six other performances outside of the Big Top Show, plus seven buildings to explore, filled to the gills with the largest collection of circus artifacts and ephemera in the entire world.

So there's lots to do, whether you're three to 103.

You got a full day here at Circus World.

- A full day traveling through what is known as "the greatest show on earth," all while learning about Wisconsin's rich circus history.