Circus Historical Society Convention 2025
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Don’t delay! The 2025 Circus Historical Society Convention is less than two months away. Step right up and register today!
Convention Program
The Circus Historical Society will convene in Las Vegas from October 22 to 25. With over twenty presentation proposals to choose from, our Convention Committee put together an extraordinarily strong program. The featured speakers at our convention banquet will be the co-owners of Circus Vargas, Katya Arata Quiroga and Nelson Tabares Quiroga, and the convention will include a competition performance of the Vegas Variety Circus Festival!
Other activities will include a reception with the festival jurors, sixteen presentations on a wide range of circus history topics, including a panel discussion with some of the festival jurors, our annual banquet and auction, the announcement of the 2025 Thayer Prize winner, a screening of historic Max Fleischer circus cartoons featuring Koko the Clown and Betty Boop, and the Vegas Variety Circus Festival performance.
Click here for the full Schedule of Convention 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 Fees
CHS Members and their guests/spouses can register at a rate of $250 per person through September 15, 2025. 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 $310 per person through September 15, 2025 includes a one-year membership and subscription to Bandwagon. Registration rates will be higher after September 15, 2025.
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, and a Virtual rate of $50 is available to attend the October 23 presentations online via Zoom.
Cancellation / Refunds: 50% through September 15. 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.
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.
To encourage camaraderie among the attendees, we reserved a block of rooms at the convention hotel from October 21 through October 25. The hotel rates in our room block vary depending on the day of the week.
The Circus Historical Society group rate, which includes the hotel service fee, averages out to only $135 per night, plus taxes, over the course of the convention!
Click here for hotel reservations or call the hotel at (888) 786-7389 and use code SCICHSC. The CHS group rate will only be available until September 22, 2025 or until our room block is filled, whichever comes first. The group rate includes free parking and internet service.
If you also want to reserve a room at the convention hotel either before or after the convention at the prevailing rate, we suggest that you call the hotel at (888) 786-7389 as soon as possible, ask about any available discounts, and request that your reservation be linked to your CHS group rate reservation.
Auction Donations - Advertising - Sales Information
Contact Brian Hollifield at info@freedomauctions.com to donate items for sale at the convention auction.
Contact Bruce Hawley at president@circushistory.org for advertising, sponsorships, and sales table rental information. Click here for advertising and sales table rates.
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 carpool transportation from the convention hotel to the festival grounds on Saturday. Click here for more 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!
