Mighty pachyderms from the Greatest Show on Earth paraded through Baltimore City before eating in front of an excited Lexington Market crowd at the 31st annual Lunch with the Elephants.
Billed as the world?s largest stand-up vegetarian buffet, the event is the only one of its kind in the nation.
Little ones came face to face with enormous Asian elephants from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus? 136th edition Blue Unit, in town through March 18.
“I?ve never seen anything like this,” said Michigan native David Watkins.
Watkins brought his Harriet Tubman Elementary School students to the spectacle, which included live music, elephant facts from the handlers, and circus clowns, Royo and Pepe.
“I love to see the young kids happy. It makes everybody smile,” said Linda Eaton, of Baltimore City.
Adults enjoyed the day as much as the children did, if not more.
Joanne Mitchell, of Baltimore City, dressed up for the elephant brunch with red clown noses on her fingers, ears, eyebrows and even in her hair.
Mitchell attends the lunch every year to clap and cheer with her son, daughter and grandchildren.
“Today is a family affair. It?s memory time,” she said. “I was raised with the Market. My father worked at Faidley?s Seafood for 70 years. “Baltimore is a hospitality town. We have respect for one another.”
“It?s lunch break, girls,” an onlooker yelled at the seven female elephants munching on 1,100 oranges, 1,000 apples, 500 heads of lettuce, 700 bananas, 400 pears and 500 carrots.
“Getting the elephants here with the construction on Eutaw Street was the biggest challenge today,” said Darlene Hudson, spokeswoman for the Lexington Market.
The elephants and their handlers took an unexpected route to the Market, but “it was smooth sailing from there,” she said.
“It?s a lot of work ? planning and logistics ? but it?s worth it to educate the children,” said Andy Brown, of Virginia, who “lives on the train” while traveling as an associate production manager with the circus.
“Lunch with the Elephants is a grand tradition in Baltimore,” said ringmaster Chuck Wagner, “one we hope to continue for hundreds and hundreds of years to come.”
