Circus Historical Society Convention 2025
We're counting down to Convention 2025! You don't want to miss the great line-up of circus history presentations and fun activities. Step right up and register today!
Can't attend in person? Register at the Virtual Rate of only $50 to attend the Thursday presentations via Zoom. Our annual fundraising auction will also be online this year. See below for details.
Convention Program
Circus Historical Society will convene in Las Vegas from October 22 to 25. The featured speaker at our banquet on Thursday will be legendary ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson!
With over twenty proposals to choose from, our Convention Committee put together an extraordinary program of seventeen circus history presentations and panels. Other activities will include a reception, banquet, silent and online auctions, the announcement of the 2025 Thayer Prize winner, and a screening of historic Max Fleischer circus cartoons featuring Koko the Clown and Betty Boop. The convention will conclude with an exciting competition performance at the Vegas Variety Circus Festival under the Marinelli Brothers Circus big top!
Click here for a list of Presentations and Activities.
For travel planning purposes, note that the convention will begin at 3:00pm on Wednesday, October 22 and end on Saturday, October 25 after the 1:00pm performance of the Vegas Variety Circus Festival.
Registration Rates
CHS Members and their guests/spouses can register at a rate of $265 per person. CHS Members must log on to our Back Yard (members-only) site to access the member registration rates. Click here to log into the Back Yard.
The Non-member Rate of $325 per person includes a one-year membership and subscription to Bandwagon.
The full-time Academic Rate is $150, and the full-time Student Rate is $125.
Registration includes admission to the reception, presentations, banquet, auction, and the 1:00pm competition performance of the Vegas Variety Circus Festival on Saturday October 25.
One-Day-Only Rates are also available to anyone who wants to attend only one day of the convention.
A Virtual Rate of $50 is available to attend the October 23 presentations online via Zoom.
Cancellation / Refunds: No refunds after September 15.
To register, click either the Green REGISTER button at the top left of the announcement or the Blue REGISTER button on the website page. CHS Members who are not logged on to the CHS Back Yard (members-only) site will need to authenticate to register at the Member Rate. To register by mail, click here to download the mail-in registration form.
Auctions
There will be two fundraising auctions at the convention, a Silent Auction and a Live Online Auction. Silent Auction items are only available for preview and bids onsite by CHS Convention attendees.
We are excited to partner with Freedom Auction Company for our Live Online Auction at Convention, where bids will be accepted from in-person attendees and live online via the partner website, phone, or proxy. Commentary about the historical significance of many of the auctioned items will be provided during the auction livestream by circus historian and CHS Vice President Chris Berry. The auction catalog and information on in-person and live online bidding is available via circusauctions.com. Pre-bidding is open now.
Convention Hotel
All convention presentations and events, except for the performance of the Vegas Variety Circus Festival, will take place at Sunset Station Hotel & Casino at 1301 W Sunset Road in Henderson, Nevada 89014. This 457-room hotel and casino features a large gaming area, eleven restaurants and lounges, a 72-lane bowling center, and a luxury Imax theater.
The time to reserve a room at the CHS group rate has expired. To reserve a room at the prevailing rate, call the hotel at (888) 786-7389 and ask about any available discounts.
Circus Performances
Your registration fee includes the 1:00pm competition performance of the Vegas Variety Circus Festival on Saturday October 25. The festival will take place in the beautiful Marinelli Bros. Circus big top at Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas. We will arrange for transportation from the convention hotel to the festival grounds on Saturday. Click here for the latest information about the Vegas Variety Circus Festival.
To give you an opportunity to attend other Las Vegas circuses on your own, we did not schedule any convention activities on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. If you would like to attend a Cirque du Soleil show on your own, click here for Cirque du Soleil discounts and showtimes. Also, a limited number of discounted tickets are available for convention attendees to attend a performance of Absinthe at Caesar's Palace. If you are interested in attending Absinthe, please send an email to info@circushistory.org.
We are looking forward to seeing you at the 2025 CHS Convention!
