Holiday Nights on the Bayfront

Not every Ringling program is about the collection. Holiday Nights on the Bayfront is a family-minded gathering on the Bolger Campiello, the waterside plaza that also hosts the museum's Ringling by the Bay dance nights. It offers music, cookie decorating, face painting and seasonal art-making, plus holiday food and drink for sale as the sun drops over Sarasota Bay. The event centers on the Bayfront Gardens, though guests can add entry to the Circus Museum or to Ca' d'Zan, the Venetian Gothic winter home John and Mable Ringling completed in 1926, which is still being restored after the 2024 hurricanes.