CHARLESTON W.Va. — What are the circus members currently in the Capitol City doing for Thanksgiving?
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey crew have been performing at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center since last Sunday and are scheduled to be in town for another few days until this Sunday.
This marks the first time in 7 years the Ringling Bros. Circus has been in the area since their reimaging. 
Ringling Bros. Public Relations Manager Brandon Glass told MetroNews that after being on the road touring since July, they are grateful to be coming up on a break for Christmas.
However, he said despite having to spend Thanksgiving away from home, they enjoy being together as well.
“I think as we start traveling with each other we kind of become one big family, so we have that since of community, that sense of relation with the people that we’re touring with, but I mean, who’s not going to be missing their brothers or sisters, moms and dads when they’re out on the road,” said Glass.
This year, there are 75 performers in Ringling Bros. coming from 18 different countries.
Glass said while not all of them celebrates the same holiday such as Thanksgiving, being on the road for multiple months out of the year unfortunately guarantees they all will be missing some kind of holiday or tradition back home.
However, he said some venues they perform at help give them the opportunity to celebrate together regardless, adding that this week, Charleston Convention Center staff were putting together a Thanksgiving dinner for them which they were very grateful for.
“It’s just another way to bring the entire cast and crew together and kind of just celebrate being here with each other which is nice,” said Glass.
They were going to be having that Thanksgiving dinner together on Wednesday.
Skyler Miser is ‘The Human Rocket,’ or the human cannonball in the show. She’s from Peru, Indiana.
Miser said she is happy because her family was going to be coming in to see her for the holiday.
“My family, they come and visit every once in a while, I’m actually going to see them on Thanksgiving which is really, really special, so to be able to spend a little bit of time with them means a lot,” Miser said.
Juliana Richards, a flying trapeze artist from Tampa, Florida said she was getting to go home for Thanksgiving.
She has been performing with the circus for around 10 years now. Richards said there has been many holidays and life events she has had to miss out on for the sake of performing and it never gets easier.
“This kind of lifestyle does keep me on my personal edge I would say, and missing people and feeling like you might be missing out on opportunities that a person with a more normal life gets to do, so there can definitely be that fear of missing out for sure,” Richards said.
Assistant carpenter for Ringling Bros. Matt Hudson said it’s a challenge being on the road for the holidays, but that’s when they lean on each other even more for support when they can’t be with their families.
“I’d love to be with my family for the holiday, but, you know, we have shows to do to make other families happy, so it’s nice we can kind of do these things together and come closer as our circus family,” said Hudson.
Vanessa Burch with the automation crew for Ringling Bros. said being on the road can be very difficult for all of them, not just on holidays, as many get homesick. She said but, being together helps a lot.
“We are all a giant family here, so even when you’re away from your real family back home, you still have people who, you know, they may not be blood but they have just as close of a bond with you,” she said.
She said they often have cookouts and other celebrations together at the different venues they are performing at, such as the Thanksgiving dinner they had on Wednesday.
Burch said in addition to that, they also stuck to another Thanksgiving tradition of simply showing how grateful they truly are.
“We all just went down the line talking about how grateful we are for the life we live, what we were thankful for back home, and what we’re thankful for on the road, so it really just helps put into perspective for us of what it means to do what we do,” said Burch.
The crew will finish up their series of performances in Charleston on Sunday, Dec. 1.
They plan to be back on the road for tours again in 2025 following their Christmas break.