What’s under downtown Bellingham’s big top? Shoestring Circus returns this summer

Shoestring Circus, the locally-owned big top along Bellingham’s downtown waterfront, is in just its third summer, but it’s already developed a strange knack for drawing in TV and movie stars.

The circus earned a mention on national television earlier this year when “Severance” star Britt Lower discussed her role in Shoestring’s 2024 run — she became involved in the circus world while developing her 2019 film “Circus Person” — during an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”

“We got a kind of a tease of a text, and we were like, ‘Oh, yeah, of course, we’ll watch you on TV,’” Nicole Laumb, one of Shoestring’s founders and performers, told The Herald ahead of Shoestring’s rehearsal on Thursday. “But we didn’t know it was because she was going to have a picture of her on our tent with our name on Seth Meyers.”

Apparently the circus’ four owners have a knack for meeting high-profile actors, because according to Laumb, Shoestring will feature another one when its 22-show Bellingham run kicks off this weekend: Richard Kind.

“We met him in Olympia last year, randomly at a restaurant, told him about our circus and became friends,” Laumb said. “He came to the show, had dinner with him, and he said, ‘If you need anything, let me know.’ So we got the gusto up to be, ‘Would you like to do a voice act in our show?’ So when people come to the show, the introduction is done by Richard Kind, and he pops up a couple other times throughout the show.”

Shoestring Circus returns to Bellingham this summer

In addition to swapping out celebrities, Shoestring swapped out last year’s theme of a medieval quest for this year’s museum theme.

“We try to make them very, very different than the year before, so it feels like people that see our show every year are coming into a whole new world,” Laumb said. “Last year’s show was like a medieval fantasy, so we were like, what’s super different from that? A museum.”

Co-founder Sadye Osterloh directs the show, which she said will weave in more comedy than people usually associate with museums.

“It’s not really what you’d expect when you think of museum theme,” Osterloh said. “It’s beautiful types of art, and then there’s just a really fun story line. … It’s full of whimsy, beauty, comedy.”

The circus was founded in 2022 by Osterloh, Laumb, Justin Therrien and Matthew McCorkle, and after two summer runs next to Waypoint Park and the Granary Building, it’s quickly become a Bellingham staple.

“We’re on the Port of Bellingham events in the area sign, we caught our name on there, and we’re like, ‘Oh, we’re on the sign. We’re going to be here every year,’” Laumb said.

The Bellingham shows are already sold out, although the owners are looking into adding a few showtimes.

“I think part of it is this really awesome space at Trackside that the Port of Bellingham lets us come to. This is such a beautiful summer scene,” Laumb said. “There’s so much going on down here, and people see the tent.”

What’s new at this year’s Shoestring Circus show

There are six new actors as well, including a former China’s Got Talent winner and a pair of acrobats who featured in “Water for Elephants” on Broadway.

According to Laumb, Shoestring picked its new performers from more than 300 applications.

“Sometimes we see an artist or an act that we hear great things about them as a person, and we also really like what they do, and we’ll start talking to them early on. … And then the other part is our submission process, which we were pretty shocked, we got over 300 applications this year,” Laumb said.

One of those is Alex Oliva, who applied after hearing about Shoestring from friends and social media.

“I’m from Boston, so complete other side of the country, but I’ve heard really, really good things about Shoestring, so I applied,” said Oliva, who will perform acts on the Cyr wheel and straps.

Other WA shows

In addition to its expanding cast, Shoestring added stops in two additional Washington cities this year — Orting and Vancouver.

“We’ll go to Orting, Washington, which is my home county. The tent is going to be up like 10 minutes from my house, which is really sweet. So it means a lot to kind of get to bring it to my hometown,” Laumb said.

The circus will be in Olympia from June 27 to July 6 before heading to Orting from July 11 to 20. The tour ends in Vancouver, where shows are scheduled from July 25 to Aug. 3. The shows are held on weekends, with the occasional Thursday show as well.

“We’re doubling our tour and really feeling like a traveling show this year,” Laumb said.

Laumb said the circus doesn’t have any concrete plans to expand beyond those four cities, but that the owners hope to bring it to add a few more stops over the coming years.

“We want to make sure we do these four towns in a way that feels good for the artist, feels good for us... But I think all of us hope to keep expanding it by a little bit every year. It might be one more town a year, two more towns a year,” Laumb said.

How to buy tickets

Shoestring Circus will be in Bellingham from June 6 to June 22. You can check for available tickets to the Bellingham show, or by tickets to a show in a different city, on the circus’ website.

This story was originally published June 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM.