Elephants in Cambridge

In my head I have an image of a circus parade full of acrobats, clowns, brightly colored wagons and animals decked out in sparkles. This is probably the result of movies like Toby Tyler, a childhood favorite. Circus parades like that are a thing of the past, but in Boston there is a small piece still happening. Each year when the circus comes to town, their train is parked along the tracks that run parallel to Vassar St on the MIT campus. The shows take place across the river at the Boston Garden. The elephants and horses walk through the streets to get from the train to the Garden. In all of the years that I have worked in Cambridge I have never seen the elephant walk.

This year one of the event emails I receive regularly included the dates for the circus shows. And that gave me not only a reminder but also the time to determine when the elephants were due to make their trek.

Tonight was the night. It was not the ideal weather to watch the elephants - it is cold here. And it was dark. But we were determined to see the elephants so we bundled up and walked down to Memorial Drive to watch the elephants. We saw elephants:



The lead elephant.



Bringing up the rear.

And horses:

There was also a duck boat full of clowns, but alas no clown pictures.

It wasn't a fancy parade but it was a lot of fun.

If you're in the Boston area you've got another opportunity to see the elephants. On Sunday at 5 they make the walk back to the train.