Surprised in Sarasota

(Sarasota, FL: 2 March 2010) We made it back to Florida for the second round of RV renovation. Since we had to be out of the way for the day we originally were planning and looking forward to some relaxing beach time. Overnight the weather turned nasty with thunderstorms coming in before dawn and raining most of the morning. We googled "off the beaten path, florida", for something to do indoors, and found a place we would have never visited. When we asked Harry, the salesmen here at Classic Coach Works, whether he had heard of the Circus Museum in Sarasota, he quickly seconded the high reviews we saw on the internet.
And we were not disappointed.
After about a 90 minute drive we arrived just in time to slip into a movie explaining the history and rebuilding of the Asolo Theater which was followed by a movie about John and Mable Ringling, the founder and benefactor of the campus of museum's we were about to see. The movie provided a great orientation. John Ringling was one of the famous Ringling Brothers of circus fame, who, in the late 1800's/early 1900's created and grew the most successful circus in history. They were 5 boys from a strict Christian family from Baraboo, Wisconsin. One year a circus came to town and captivated the boys imaginations. They worked on their own acts and started putting on shows locally. They got better and better at it. Family's appreciated them not using profanity in their acts and having a strict behavior code for their performers, they were known for their honest business dealings and their business grew. Eventually they took the show on the road and the rest is history. Eventually they moved the circus' winter home to Sarasota, Florida after John and Mable bought land around Sarasota Bay. They became wealthy not only from the amazing success of the circus operations, but from land, oil, and railroad investments. Mable built an incredible mansion, Ca' d'Zan (Home of John) and gardens here. They educated themselves in art and traveled extensively collecting art. They bought so many works of art that their home couldn't hold it all. So, they built a building, a museum; an amazing work of art in itself, to house their collection. Mable died after living in the mansion she built only three years. The Depression hit, John, the last surviving brother, lost all the circus holdings, but he managed to keep the art collection together. He was devastated financially. When he died in 1936 he had $311 in the bank. He left the mansion, the museum, the art collection and 20 acres of land on Sarasota Bay to the State of Florida. They are managed by Florida State University through a trust and a foundation. The museum is said to be the 20th most significant art museum in the US. The two circus museum's were actually established after Ringling's death. One museum has circus memorabilia, wagons, costumes, handbills and advertising and stuff from the filming of the movie The Greatest Show on Earth, filmed on location in Sarasota. The most incredible part of the circus museum though is an entire Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus circa 1919-1938 in miniature! That's right the entire circus...everything you could possibly think of connected to the circus, carved and built from wood! It was made by a man named Howard Tibbals and took him over 50 years to complete!
Yes, were were definitely pleasantly surprised by Sarasota!