Local bakers compete to decorate P.T. Barnum’s birthday cake
By most accounts, Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) was a con artist, huckster, charlatan and the world’s greatest showman (and an author, politician, publisher and philanthropist). The circus that still bears his name — Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey — has been celebrating, for more than a year, the birthday anniversary of the man who allegedly said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” (The Circus insists he never uttered those words.)
The legendary P.T. would have turned 201 last month (July 5, to be exact), but in the festive world of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the brazen Barnum’s 200th birthday just goes on and on.
The circus will be hosting a cake-decorating contest — in the spirit of ol’ man Barnum — this Wednesday in the Grand Hall of Union Station (30 West Pershing Road), beginning at 11:45 a.m. Three local pastry businesses will be represented, hoping to win 100 tickets to the circus for their favorite children’s charity. The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus runs September 7-11 at Sprint Center.
