When the doors open and you are ushered into the Big Top, you'll notice the performance rings in the middle of the tent, surrounded by a hippodrome track. Surrounding this track are grandstand seats, with special and more expensive box seats down in front in choice locations. As soon as you take your seat concessionaires, or butchers as they're known in the show, will start passing by selling everything from peanuts and cotton candy to souvenirs and programs. The performance itself is conducted by a ringmaster, traditionally attired in colorful top hat and tails, who uses a whistle to signal the start of each new act. A live circus band, heavy on the brass, plays lively music, including traditional marches from John Phillip Sousa.
Most performances conclude with the circus elephants.
Not All Glamour Circus life is not nearly as glamorous or carefree as it may seem. Circus folk typically work 11 straight months without a day off, with the show shutting down only for a few weeks around Christmas to ready for the new year's edition. Once on the circus lot, and guided to your parking space by the advance team, you get a few hours sleep before set-up begins just before dawn. Set-up is the most grueling aspect of circus life, in which the equivalent of a small town must be erected before the public starts arriving for the first performance. This can mean the span of a very few hours.