Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is folding the big top.

According to an announcement on its website, declines in ticket sales and “the transition of elephants off the road” were cited by Kenneth Feld, chief executive of Feld Entertainment, current owner of the 140-plus-year-old entertainment institution, as among the factors making the circus an “unsustainable business.”

Various media outlets announced the closing of the circus in top-of-the-hour roundups Jan. 15.

Final performances by the circus are scheduled for spring of 2017 - May 7 in Rhode Island and May 17 in New York - according to Feld’s announcement.

In our area, the circus will be in town Feb. 16-20 in Philadelphia and March 8-12 in Newark, N.J.

In a video editorial dated Oct. 16, 2016, on The Wall Street Journal website, Mary Kissel, a member of the WSJ editorial board, spoke to Stephan Payne, spokesman for Ringling Bros., when New York City Council’s proposed legislation, to, in Payne’s words, “prohibit Ringling Brothers or any other exotic animal exhibitor from bringing their animals to New York City, depriving thousands of New Yorkers the chance to see the circus, costing millions of dollars to the city and hundreds of jobs.”

In its coverage of the closing, The New York Times noted animal rights groups and activists have campaigned to have circuses remove animals, especially elephants, from circus shows, spotlighting the treatment of animals in the shows and the toll train and truck travel can take on animals, especially the elephants.

Upon hearing of the end of Ringling Bros. a memory resurfaced for yours truly.

You see, I once rode an elephant. Or at least I vaguely remember such an event.

The ride took place in an age before the ubiquity of cellphones with video capabilities, and my family did not own a video camera. So it was necessary to call upon the authorities: my siblings.

My brother, four years my senior, confirmed the event in a cellphone call.

We apparently rode the elephant together.

The act happened as part of an outing to a circus show, not by Ringling Bros., in Allentown, my brother recalled. Our family was new to the area then.

The elephant was among the attractions on the midway, he explained.

“We were invited to, and we climbed up,” he said.

I think we rode the elephant in a small circle.

I can recall the elephant’s hair being very prickly and wiry.

My brother described the hair as “like sticks” and the animal’s head as grizzled.

“There may be a slide of it somewhere,” he said.

I confess to not recalling much else about the circus show, although I likely was transfixed by the trapeze artists, if indeed there were any, and thrilled by the fire breathers or baton twirlers or “illustrated” man or woman. And I probably ate too much popcorn.

But I remember the elephant and its prickly skin, however vague that memory may now be.

In an age where one can witness a complete stranger’s dinner entrée, live stream family pets performing antics ad nauseam and footage of the latest touchdown, three-point basket, double play or cannonball by your neighbor’s cousin by logging on to the social media site of your choice, every so often it is comforting to have knowledge of a moment that is a personal recollection.

Plus, in my case, such a memory might just provide you a good reason to take out your cellphone and get in touch with someone who may share knowledge of an important, or not so important, moment, too.

My sincerest thanks to the calm and majestic elephant who patiently allowed my brother and me to sit astride its back. I hope the elephant has since retired to one of the lush sanctuaries now available to animal entertainers.

April Peterson

editorial assistant

East Penn Press

Salisbury Press