About Circus Grimaldi

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The Stinson Fairground Band Organ, will be out on our circus midway, for your enjoyment as you enter our Big Top. 

This Band Organ was originally built for The Royal Lichtenstein Circus. The Royal Lichtenstein Quarter-Ring Sidewalk Circus was a street theatre circus troupe, that toured the United States between 1971 and 1993.  

Our Band Organ remains to be the LAST continuously touring fairground band organ on American soil.

Here at Circus Grimaldi we take great pride presenting this piece of history, for your viewing and listening pleasure.

So who is Grimaldi, of which the show is named after, you ask?

The most famous clown of them all and the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era (1811-1820).

In the early 1800s, he expanded the role of Clown in the harlequinade that formed part of British pantomimes, notably at the Drury Lane, Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden theatres.

Grimaldi became so dominant on the London comic stage that the harlequinade role of Clown became known as "Joey", and both the nickname and Grimaldi's whiteface are used by clowns to this day.

Even though he may have never performed in a circus. He still played a major role for the clowns in the circus.