05/03/2026
Proud To Call Orlando Home: Following the end of the Lee Vista Spring Carnival in Orlando on Sunday, the James E. Strates Shows will prepare to depart its winter quarters at 10600 S. Orange Avenue in Taft to begin its annual journey along the Eastern Seaboard, a late spring tradition dating to 1954.
That year, founder James E. Strates purchased a 33-acre property in Taft (Orlando) to establish a permanent winter base for what would become one of North America’s largest traveling carnivals. At the time, Orange Avenue (Route 27) marked the edge of Orange County, giving way to farmland and forest on the route to Osceola County. The site was selected for its proximity to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad — now CSX and SunRail — allowing it to accommodate the show’s approximately 60-car carnival train.
Before establishing its Taft headquarters, Strates Shows operated from City of Orlando property at Pinecastle Air Force Base (Now Orlando International Airport) beginning in 1949, until the base was reactivated in 1951. During the interim, the show wintered in DeLand.
For decades, Strates Shows’ railcars and wagons carried the slogan “Orlando, The City Beautiful,” reflecting the company’s ties to the region. Generations of Orlando residents recall the sight of the show’s train, equipment and rides staged along South Orange Avenue. In the 1960s, many were drawn to the show’s traveling menagerie, which included elephants, bears, tigers, lions and a hippopotamus that spent the winter months in Orlando before the show’s spring departure.
Although Strates Shows no longer travels by rail — having officially retired train operations in 2024 — the business remains based in Taft. There, amusement rides are staged, stored and maintained before continuing along the show’s annual route, which extends as far north as Vermont before returning to Central Florida for the winter. A full-time administrative staff manages year-round operations while the show is on the road. E. James Strates, who assumed leadership of the company from his father in 1959, recently celebrated his 96th birthday and remains active in the business from his home in Rose Isle.
Long before the Disney Brothers arrived in Central Florida, carnival impresario James E. Strates was widely regarded by local newspapers as Orlando’s most famous showman. When Strates established winter quarters in Taft in the early 1950s, the area was still so rural that nearby farmers reportedly could hear the roar of his lions from more than a mile away. Strates Shows became a Central Florida institution, providing the giant midway at the Central Florida Fair for 46 years while also creating unforgettable local lore. In 1964, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad passengers were stunned when one of the show’s elephants was spotted wandering alongside the tracks in Taft. Three years later, in 1967, the show’s 19-foot, 80-pound python, Eee Jay, disappeared along with 19 other reptiles from the traveling menagerie, only to be discovered later in a gopher hole about 100 yards from the snake pens. Beyond spectacle, Strates also made a lasting charitable impact. For more than two decades, Strates Shows partnered with the Salvation Army to host an annual circus-style Christmas party for thousands of underprivileged Orlando children, welcoming busloads of families to the Taft winter quarters for visits with Santa, carnival rides, animals, clowns, hot dogs and cotton candy.
