Last Updated on February 15, 2024
The Showmen’s Museum is housed in a fairly generic-looking warehouse from the outside that showcases an incredible world of wonderful carnival history and memories within its over 54,000-square-foot interior.
Located near Tampa, just south of Brandon, this one-of-a-kind museum houses a huge amount of circus, sideshow, and carnival history and collectibles that will bring a smile to the faces of all who visit. (We had masks on during our recent visit, but were smiling from ear to ear).
The mission of the International Independent Showmen’s Museum is to preserve the history of traveling shows in America.
The staff told us there was no place committed to carnival history like the Showmen’s Museum before we entered and they were not kidding.
The Showmen’s Museum houses amazing artifacts, countless photographs spanning over a century of traveling shows throughout the USA, and eclectic memorabilia from a variety of colorful carnival and circus midways.
A visit feels like going back in time. It’s an opportunity to see rides, games, posters, banners, sequined costumes and colorful wagons of this bygone era.
You can’t help but utter “I remember that” as you stroll through the two levels of carnival history and memorabilia.
The museum is operated by the International Independent Showman’s Association of Gibsonton. Gibsonton was famous as a winter home for people in the traveling carnival and circus businesses, including infamous sideshow performers for much of the 1940s and 50s.
Residents included Al “The Giant” Tomiani, and his wife, Jeanie, “The Half-Woman;” Melvin “The Rubber Faced Man” Burkhart; Grady “The Lobster Boy” Stiles; Percilla, “The Monkey Girl;” and the conjoined Hilton sisters.
With the rise of television and medical advances, carnival sideshows declined and the population of Gibsonton dwindled.
But, thankfully, this museum keeps all the memories alive … and creates new memories for all who walk through their door.
The International Independent Showmen’s Museum is open every Saturday and Sunday from 12 – 5 PM. Admission is $15.00 for adults and $10.00 for children with school ID. Children under 10 years old are always free. Learn more at https://showmensmuseum.org/
The Showmen’s Museum Address: 6938 Riverview Dr, Riverview, FL 33578
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