One of the city’s most beloved and long-standing traditions is turning 50 with programming on two themes: “Circus Arts” and “On The Move: Migration Across Generations.”

It’s a creative and strange delight that is not to be missed.

This will also mean PETA’s annual protest of the event won’t take place, but campaign specialist Ashley Byrne says they will be outside the Verizon Center for every performance.

Performers and animals from the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus made their “Pachyderm Parade” across Capitol Hill last night.

At 8 p.m. this evening, a herd of elephants will trudge across Capitol Hill. Why? The circus is in town.

Today PETA filed a complaint with the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance accusing Mayor Vince Gray’s office of violating conflict-of-interest rules by accepting discounted circus tickets while failing to inspect the conditions elephants were kept in.

Just like it did last year, PETA is planning a protest of the arrival of the circus to the Verizon Center, an annual event that kicked off last night with the Pachyderm Parade.

Circus fans and elephant enthusiasts lined the streets last night for the annual Pachyderm Parade, the march that announces that the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus has arrived in town.

If you happen to see a parade of elephants ambling through the city tonight, it isn’t some thinly veiled message about a coming Republican president and how he’ll stomp all over the District for four years—it’s just the annual Pachyderm Parade.

We realize that many of you are not fans of the elephant march that wound its way through the streets of Washington yesterday. (We’re not passing judgment either way — we just feel an obligation to inform people when a large group of pachyderms begin stomping around Capitol Hill.) But don’t you worry: PETA stands ready to strike back. According to one government source we spoke with, PETA had actually asked the D.C. government to shut down yesterday’s march, but it was too late. Instead, the animal rights group will “confront circusgoers” with a “giant, inflatable ‘elephant'” that “will lead PETA’s contingent of nearly 100 protesters” tomorrow morning.