ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — This weekend, the Sirkus is coming to town. This Saturday, the Surreal Sirkus Arts Festival will bring a day of experimental theater, circus performers, live music and over 50 art vendors to Pack Square Park.
Surreal Sirkus will run from noon to 10 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 25 in Pack Square Park. The event is free and open to the public.
Things to see at the Sirkus
The Surreal Sirkus has a longer history in Asheville than newer attendees might be aware of.
“In its current iteration, it’s been going on since 2021, but it actually started back in the 1990s,” explained James Genaro, creative director for Surreal Sirkus. “We did this festival from 1996 to 2005, and then we retired it, and we had a giant funeral for it in the park and let it lie for a long time. Then we brought it back for the 25th anniversary in 2021.”
Since its resurrection, Surreal Sirkus has continued to grow in size and scope.
While destruction caused by Hurricane Helene altered the plan for the arts festival in 2024, Genaro and his team have come back for the 2025 production bigger and better than ever. This year, the main stage show has been preceded by eight smaller performances throughout the year, culminating in a circus showcase featuring aerialists, fire spinners, puppeteers,‬ jugglers, dancers and other circus performers.
According to Genaro, the prior miniature performances told the story of the “Cosmic Eggs,” an science-fiction exploration of eight different civilizations, each centered around a different colored egg. While following “The Tale of the Cosmic Eggs” is not necessary to appreciate this year’s Surreal Sirkus show, the egg-curious can watch each of the performances on the Surreal Sirkus website. Begin here.
While there will be elements of sci-fi spectacle to this Surreal Sirkus performance, the show will also be a tactile tribute to Asheville itself.
“There is a parade, a procession, that leads into it, where we are going to honor people who have died in our community, including the people who died in Helene,” Genaro said.
The Surreal Sirkus main stage show will begin at 8 p.m. on the amphitheater stage in front of Asheville City Hall.
Elsewhere at the festival, there are even more performances to enjoy.
“We also have an EDM stage up at the raised lawn at North Pack Square and we have DJs playing there,” Genaro said. “We have a third stage in that middle section of Reuter Terrace, where the first half of the day is gonna be a showcase of local electronic producers, and then from 4 to 7 p.m., we have a group called Create Ink that is gonna be there on that stage, and they bring in artists from diverse communities. There’ll be more, like, hip hop and R&B and different spoken word music up there too.”
For more about the festival, visit www.surrealsirkus.com.