The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced during its general membership meeting Friday it will bring a circus to town Memorial Day weekend.

With the cooperation of Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department, the organization will sponsor the Big Top Circus on May 24 in Arena Park. The circus will set up across from the baseball diamonds on East Rodney.

"This is the first time we've ever done anything like this," said chapter president Michael Sterling. "The NAACP has just never thought to do anything of this nature, so this is a great project for us."

The circus will be a major fund raiser for the group, which will receive a portion of the ticket sales for the event. Parks and Recreation will be handling concessions and trash pickup during the day.

There will be two shows for the event. The show times are at 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets will cost $4 for children and $6 for adults.

The organization also approved sending a letter to the Cape Girardeau School District requesting that Martin Luther King Day not be used as a inclement weather make-up day. The letter states that other days could be used other than the holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader, and that using the day is "disrespectful and shameful" to black students.