Kenneth Feld, Chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment Receives International Circus Industry's Top Honor

    VIENNA, Va., July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, July 22, 2006,
 Kenneth Feld, Chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, Inc. and
 owner/producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey was inducted into the
 International Circus Hall of Fame in Peru, Indiana. Feld became the Hall of
 Fame's newest circus inductee when he was presented with the honor at the
 Annual Circus Greats Awards Dinner and Induction Ceremony appropriately
 held inside a circus big top at the Peru museum (former home to the
 American Circus Corporation).
     "It's an honor to be inducted into the International Circus Hall of
 Fame and join my father and so many others who have contributed to making
 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey truly The Greatest Show On Earth," said
 Kenneth Feld. "This honor reaffirms the responsibility I have, along with
 my daughters, to maintain the high quality, family-focused productions
 which continue to define Ringling Bros."
     Feld was among nine nominees who were considered and voted upon this
 past spring by the Hall of Fame's Circus Greats Review Council and
 Induction Board. Feld was subsequently elected to the
 owners/management/administrative category of circus greats.
     Kenneth Feld's induction comes nearly twenty years after his late
 father, Irvin, was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame
 (1987). With Kenneth Feld's induction, the number of individuals, families
 and troupes honored in the Hall of Fame now reaches an elite 163. Other
 circus greats enshrined in the Hall of Fame include aerialist Lillian
 Leitzel, animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams, clowns Emmett Kelley and
 Lou Jacobs, and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey founder and great, P.T.
 Barnum.
     "We are very pleased to induct Kenneth Feld into the Circus Hall of
 Fame. The Feld family has had a major impact on the American circus," said
 Thomas Dunwoody, executive director of the International Circus Hall of
 Fame.
     Kenneth Feld, 57, is chairman and chief executive officer of Feld
 Entertainment, Inc., a global enterprise whose productions have appeared in
 50 countries on six continents and are viewed by approximately 25 million
 people each year. Considered the world's largest live entertainment
 company, Feld Entertainment's productions include Ringling Bros. and Barnum
 & Bailey circus and its three touring circus units; Disney On Ice; Disney
 Live!; and launching in Fall 2006, Doodlebops Live! The company also owns
 and operates Hagenbeck-Wallace, a scenic design shop in Palmetto, FL which
 designs and builds sets for all Feld Entertainment productions; a train
 operations center that maintains the two mile-long Ringling Bros.(R) circus
 trains; and Feld Consumer Products which develops and markets concessions
 products.
     Kenneth Feld of Potomac, MD, was a sophomore at Boston University when
 his father, entertainment impresario Irvin Feld, purchased Ringling Bros.
 and Barnum & Bailey(R) from John Ringling North and celebrated that event
 by staging a signing ceremony at the ancient Roman Colosseum in Rome,
 Italy. After earning a business management degree in 1970, Kenneth Feld
 began what he called his "graduate education" by working alongside his
 father to learn, first-hand, all facets of Ringling Bros., as well as the
 live entertainment industry.
     Highlights of the Felds' innovations included creating second and third
 touring units of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, modernizing the
 creative and business practices of the circus, and launching Disney On Ice
 in 1981 and Disney Live! in 2004. In 1999, Kenneth also introduced American
 audiences to Barnum's Kaleidoscape, the first Ringling Bros. production
 under a canvas big top since 1956.
     Kenneth Feld's expertise and forward thinking also led to the formation
 of the Las Vegas extravaganza featuring master illusionists Siegfried & Roy
 at the Mirage Hotel, where the production ran until 2004. Siegfried and
 Roy's show revolutionized the live entertainment industry in Las Vegas due
 to its high quality spectacle and instant public and media rave reviews --
 paving the way for other big-budget Las Vegas productions.
     After Irvin Feld's death in 1984, Kenneth became the corporation's
 chief executive officer and producer of the company's expanding variety of
 live family spectaculars. Kenneth Feld has also produced Broadway shows,
 including Barnum, Big and Fool Moon, with the latter wining a special Tony
 Award(R) in 1999.
     Feld's numerous circus credits have included introducing scores of
 "first time in America" artists and performing techniques from former
 Soviet Union republics, Mongolia and other one-time communist bloc nations;
 importing large and versatile Mainland Chinese acrobatic troupes to the
 United States; and showing North American audiences the constantly expanded
 animal training feats and varied presentation of late circus great and
 international superstar Gunther Gebel-Williams.
     Feld's vision also goes beyond entertainment as evidenced by his
 unparalleled commitment to saving the endangered Asian elephant species. In
 1995, Feld established the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for
 Elephant Conservation(R) (CEC). Located in central Florida, this 200-acre,
 $5-million, state-of-the-art facility is dedicated to the research,
 reproduction and retirement of the Asian elephant. Ringling Bros. Center
 for Elephant Conservation has the largest sustainable population of captive
 Asian elephants in the Western hemisphere. On April 6, 2006, Ringling Bros.
 welcomed Mable, the 20th elephant calf and rare second generation born into
 the Ringling Bros. breeding program. The Center has become a global focal
 point for the worldwide study of Asian elephant behavior and reproduction.
     In addition to his commitment to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
 Center for Elephant Conservation, Feld has announced more than $300,000 in
 funding to the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park
 supporting Asian elephant research projects and a partnership with the Fort
 Worth Zoo in Texas, allowing the Zoo to acquire -- through the company's
 companion elephant program -- a male Asian elephant from the Ringling Bros.
 CEC.
     Kenneth and his wife, Bonnie, are the proud parents of three daughters,
 Nicole, Alana and Juliette. Since 2004 Feld has been allied with his
 daughter, Nicole, 28, in co-producing new editions of The Greatest Show On
 Earth(R) -- making Nicole the third generation of the Feld family to assume
 stewardship of Ringling Bros.
     ABOUT FELD ENTERTAINMENT
     Feld Entertainment is the worldwide leader in producing and presenting
 live entertainment experiences that lift the human spirit and create
 unforgettable memories, with 25 million people in attendance at our shows
 annually. Feld Entertainment's productions have appeared in 50 countries
 and on six continents and include Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey,
 Disney On Ice(SM), and Disney Live! Recognizing the uncertain future facing
 the endangered Asian elephant, Feld Entertainment established the Ringling
 Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation(R) (CEC) in 1995
 -- a respected leader in the reproduction, research and retirement of the
 Asian elephant. For more information, visit
 http://www.feldentertainment.com.
     Contact: Marissa Wolf
               212/885/0647
               Marissa.wolf@hillandknowlton.com
 
 

SOURCE Feld Entertainment, Inc.