'Under the Big Top' Part 2: Meet the Ringmaster

<p>A four-part Turn to Tara special series takes an in-depth look at the lives of traveling performers in the circus and carnival world.</p>

News 12 Staff

Jul 24, 2018, 10:38 AM

Updated 2,115 days ago

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A ringmaster for the oldest traditional traveling show in America said he is worried whether his circus will become a fading sideshow without its elephants following a New York state ban.
News 12 met Saturn, a ringmaster for the Royal Hanneford Circus, before the ban.
Saturn took News 12 on a tour of the circus, and to meet the elephants, who took center stage at the Westchester County Center in White Plains for the last time before the statewide ban took effect.
He said performing with the elephants for the last time was both heartwarming and sad.
Saturn says while it does worry him about not performing with the elephants, he says he can't find it in his heart to believe it will die down one day.
"As long as a kid keeps dreaming, they will keep coming back," he says.
Saturn says he is on the road roughly 11 months of the year, where he’s had one failed marriage, dozens of injuries and countless mishaps.
But on his trip to White Plains, News 12 directed him to the Palisades Mall -- where he bought an engagement ring for a fellow performer whom he’d been dating for two years at the time.


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