Philly was once the country’s circus capital. Some people are trying to bring back those glory days.

Nearly 200 years before Center City’s Loews Hotel opened its doors, the corner of 12th and Market Streets was America’s circus capital. The street corner saw the merging of two worlds: a newly formed United States and a novel attraction called the circus.

After years cutting his teeth in circuses and equestrian academies throughout London, English cavalry officer equestrian John Bill Ricketts brought the magical world of the circus to the New World, performing acts on horseback.

On April 3, 1793, he put on the nation’s first full circus performance at the “Ricketts’ Circus,” a building he later filled with trained Pennsylvania horses, riders, jugglers, clowns, and skilled acrobats.

He went on to organize special performances for his friend and fellow Freemason George Washington, and Washington’s presidential successor, John Adams. Ricketts also launched Canada’s first circus, but it was in Philadelphia that he first popularized the artform. The city became the heart of the country’s circus economy.

Local horse trader Adam Forepaugh jumped on the bandwagon in the fall of 1865 and furthered the circus’ popularity. His rivalry with legendary showman P.T. Barnum sparked that industry’s golden age in the late 19th century.

As the decades passed, Shana Kennedy of the Circadium School of Contemporary Circus said, the art form experienced “booms” and “wanes.” And while companies such as UniverSoul Circus, Cirque du Soleil, and others began to flourish in the 1980s, Philly’s role declined.

“Philadelphia’s circus scene mirrored the rest of the country, in both good and bad ways,” Kennedy said. “The bad way is that we don’t have very many circuses touring now.”

But with the launch of a new Philly circus festival, she is hopeful that the city will reclaim some of the glory as the international circus city of yore.

Alongside Rebel Arts Movement founder Alyssa Bigbee and other organizational leaders, Kennedy has established the Philadelphia Contemporary Circus Festival.

Inspired by the Hand-To-Hand Circus Festival Kennedy first organized with FringeArts in 2018, the new 10-day event features more than 24 exhibitions, workshops, and artist showcases throughout Old City and Camden.

The first-of-its-kind festival, which continues through Sunday, offers audiences a look into circus operatic singers, acrobat-led theater dramas, and comedic oral histories led by, of course, a “professor clown.”

Rather than exotic animals, eccentric showmen, and giant production sets, Kennedy said performers, ranging from dancers to acrobats and opera singers, are at the center of contemporary circus.

“It’s a lot more intimate,” Kennedy said. “It’s achieved that by leaning on its theatrical and dance overlaps, where a lot of storytelling and experimentation can work well for smaller audiences. They don’t need to fill a 5,000-seat arena. That’s not our goal. Our goal is to make shows that are human-scale.”

Bigbee said PCCF aims to show off that new circus culture. And given her own efforts to push more Black and brown artists into the world of circus, she hopes it inspires more circus professionals of color to leap into the art form.

“I see the Philly kids sitting on top of trains. We can do this,” Bigbee joked. “They have [the talent], but they don’t see it that much. ... I hope they see somebody they know, or somebody they’re familiar with, that’s doing it. And that they at least want to try and ask, ‘Hey, where can I go and take a class? How can I do this?’”

With the slew of programs in the region fellow organizer Ben Grinberg of the Cannonball Festival said he’s thrilled to see Philly’s various companies join hands to highlight the city’s influence and circus talent.

“I think this festival is going to be galvanizing and fomenting that momentum, and it’s just going to be a celebration of everything that has been happening here the past decade,” Grinberg said.

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For tickets and event information, go to fringearts.com