By WMBD-TV
NORMAL- Uptown Normal’s Sweet Corn Circus is returning for another year of corn, circus performances, and fun.
The annual festival celebrates Bloomington-Normal’s circus and agricultural roots as it features live performances throughout the duration of the two-day event.
The performances include acrobats, clowns, aerial arts, professional wrestling, live music, and more. The featured performers include Gamma Phi Circus, CirqueMania, Iron Spirit Pro Wrestling, as well as others.
The event and its performances are free.
There will also be more than 100 vendor and community booths along Beaufort and North Streets.
There will be food trucks, ice cream, kettle corn, and fair foods set up around Uptown Circle.
There will be locally grown sweet corn from Maddox Sweet Corn Farm available for purchase for $1 an ear at a booth located near the intersection of Broadway and North Street. The corn will be free for college students with a valid student ID.
Visit the Sweet Corn Circus website to learn more about the festival schedule and the vendor map.
In preparation for the event, there will be streets and parking areas that will be signed ‘No Parking’ after 12 p.m. and then closed at 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25.
Here is a list of the streets and areas that will be affected:
• East Beaufort Street, from Linden Street to Uptown Circle
• All of Uptown Circle
• West Beaufort Street, from Uptown Circle to the Uptown Station Parking Deck entrance (the
parking deck will remain accessible from West Beaufort Street throughout the event)
• North Street, from Uptown Circle to Fell Avenue
• Broadway, from the north side of the Post Office building through the intersection at North
Street
• A portion of the Trail East parking lot
• Constitution Boulevard (*signed No Parking starting at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24 and
closed at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25)
For visual purposes, a map of the closures can be found here.
There will be accessible parking available in the Trail West parking lot as well as along Broadway south of North Street. The Trail East lot will be reserved for vendor parking.
The parking areas and streets are expected to reopen to vehicular traffic as soon as safely possible following the event, which is expected to be around 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27.
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