Circus Smirkus calls off shows in Milton & Hanover following performer injury

August 6, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti 

Circus Smirkus has announced that it is canceling next week’s performances on its summer Big Top Tour planned for Milton, Vermont, and Hanover, New Hampshire. 

Circus Smirkus troupers perform an aerial act at a performance in Waterbury in 2023. File photo by Gordon Miller

The decision to call off the upcoming shows is connected to a rigging accident that occurred on July 22 in Massachusetts, where an 18-year-old performer was injured in a fall during an aerial act and was hospitalized. 

The Greensboro-based traveling youth circus made the show cancellation announcement on Monday, sending it to patrons via email and posting it on its website. 

It noted that some performances immediately following the incident were cancelled, and the Aug. 11-15 shows in Vermont and New Hampshire also were called off with refunds promised to ticket-holders. 

Despite those changes, however, performances yesterday and today in Kennebunkport, Maine, were on, as are four shows this Saturday and Sunday in Cumberland, Maine. 

After that, the tour returns to its Circus Barn home in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom for the final two shows on the calendar: “We will close our tour with the finale shows performed as previously scheduled at our headquarters in Greensboro on Sunday, August 17,” the announcement says. 

It was unclear why the Milton and Hanover shows were cancelled, given that other performances following the accident have gone forward. Circus Smirkus officials were unable to be reached for comment on Tuesday. A note on their website says that their headquarters was experiencing an outage with its telecommunications service.

According to several news reports, the July 22 incident happened during the second show in the southern Massachusetts town of Wrentham, on the border with Rhode Island. 

A report by the Newport (Vt.) Daily News on July 28 quotes Wrentham Police Chief William McGrath saying that first responders were called at 7:49 p.m. for “a performer who had fallen 10 to 20 feet while using aerial silks, and was suspected of having a spinal injury.”

The report says an audience member who is a nurse assisted until EMS personnel arrived. “When officers arrived on the scene, the victim was alert, conscious and able to speak,” the police chief said, according to the newspaper account. 

The injured performer — listed as an 18-year-old male in multiple reports — was taken to a hospital in Rhode Island. Circus officials have not shared any additional details about whether the trouper is still hospitalized or any update on their condition. 

“The trouper involved is a beloved member of the Smirkus family. Their spirit, generosity, and dedication in and out of the ring shines. We are holding their family in our hearts as we root them on towards recovery,” Monday’s statement from the circus says. 

The Newport newspaper account includes a statement from Circus Smirkus Artistic and Executive Director Rachel Schiffer saying, “Fortunately, the performer is expected to recover from the injuries sustained in the fall.”

The two Circus Smirkus performances scheduled for the second day in Wrentham, July 23, were reportedly canceled. Since then, however, other shows on the schedule in Waltham, Marshfield and Newbury, Massachusetts, from July 25 through Aug. 2 went ahead. The circus this week is in Maine, performing in Kennebunkport and Cumberland. A July 28 report in The Boston Globe noted that performances following the accident have not featured any of the aerial acts until the organization’s investigation into the incident is complete. It also says the injured performer’s mom posted a photo on social media with the trouper at home recovering.

The Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour has been performing at Farr’s Field in Waterbury since 2023. File photo by Gordon Miller

The annual summer traveling youth circus this summer involves 29 youth performers, ages 12 to 18, who perform a variety of circus arts acts including juggling, acrobatics, aerial stunts and comedy. Traveling in about two dozen vehicles, the troupe has approximately 80 members that include a house band, cooks and crew.

This summer’s schedule had 65 shows planned for 15 towns across New England. Circus Smirkus performed four shows in Waterbury this summer at the start of the tour in early July. Two of those shows got cut short due to storms; no one was injured.