Showmen’s Rest: Toronto’s Cemetery for Carnival and Circus Workers

Earlier this week we learned there was a special burial location in Toronto, not far from where one of us works in our day job, for amusement park professionals and their families.

Established in 1959, the resting place for the Showmen’s League of America, Canadian Chapter is located at Glendale Memorial Gardens in Toronto’s very northwest quadrant, at Hwy. 27 and Albion Road.

In addition to a large memorial, the graves here all feature an elephant, an animal chosen by the League because: “The elephant in rampant, with uplifted trunk, exemplifies in every particular the characteristics of the showman, not only alert and sagacious, but victorious as well.” For the graves, the elephant’s trunk lowered in mourning.

Among other functions, the League is committed to providing resting place for those from the industry who may not have the funds for a burial plot. There are graves on both sides of the memorial with many empty spaces remaining for future burials. The League maintains a list of fallen brethren and their plots at Showmen’s Rest.