Despite the pouring rain, hundreds of spectators lined the stretch between the Midtown Tunnel and Madison Square Garden for the Ringling Bros. Elephant Walk early this morning.
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"It's like a miracle on 34th Street," said Manhattan resident Ryan Weber from behind the metal barricades.
Before the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus kicks off tour dates in a city, its custom is to parade elephants through the town alongside samplings of other circus acts as a sort of guerrilla advertisement.
This year the elephants kept the crowd waiting. Slated to come out of the tunnel around 12:20 a.m., they didn't reach the intersection of 34th Street and Third Avenue until about 1 a.m.
"Last year the elephants moved down 34th Street pretty fast," Weber said. "There were just tons of people running down the street after them in this sort of childish glee."
Vilma Delgado braved the weather to bring her 13-year-old son to watch the spectacle.
"I haven't been to the circus since I was a little girl, so at least I get to see the elephants like this," she said. "Plus, it's the only way many of these children get to see the animals."
Animal rights organizations such as PETA have protested at past Elephant Walks. There were no signs or protesters spotted along the barricades, at least along the 34th Street stretch. The circus is currently being sued by the ASPCA for the alleged practice of chaining and immobilizing the Asian elephants used in the show.
"Out of all the things those elephants could be put through, there are worse things than a walk through New York City," Weber said.
"Funundrum" will run at Madison Square Garden from March 25 through Apr. 4.
