The FSU Flying High Circus is celebrating its return to the stage under a fully rebuilt tent after tornadoes destroyed its previous home in May 2024.WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW: Florida State's Flying High Circus returns to the sta ge under a rebuilt tent after May 2024 tornadoesThe May 2024 tornadoes destroyed Florida State University's Flying High Circus tent and left the program with an uncertain future. Now, almost two years later, the circus is celebrating a return to the stage.Friday's performance means more than just opening night it is a return after everything was taken away. The circus is back doing what they do best with its latest show, "Tall Tales," which serves as a symbol of that comeback."Really realizing that the tent and all that, everything we had to re-order and redo, thats just the stuff, its just physical things that we had to replace. But really what makes our program is our students," Chad Mathews, director of the FSU Flying High Circus, said.Even as performers returned in the fall, the experience was not the same with the tent still unfinished. Now, a fully rebuilt big top stands in its place."I hope they enjoy the show and appreciate all that our students have done and our staff has done throughout this period of time. Nothing was easy, and then its a very challenging to rebuild your program," Mathews said."Being able to actually rig everything up and see all three rings together, its just such a moment of fulfillment, especially because last year so many of the students who had done it in the past said, 'Oh my gosh, its so much better when we have the tent. Youre going be so excited when it does come up.' So to finally see it come up and to finally practice it and to finally see those dress rehearsals in the costumes and the lighting and everything come together, its just such a magical experience," student performer Alex Schrader said."I was kind of excited for it, not gonna lie Its also very cool because its a process normally to put up the tent and then the tent from scratch has been extra hard. And so everyones got to learn a lot on the fly, and we do have a lot of really cool updates to this tent. So its been a lot of fun to actually get to perform which is why were all here so weve missed it last year," student performers Alyssa Lee and Zachary Gearhart-Rovvoy said.The rebuilt tent is also creating a memorable experience for returning and first-time fans."Its just super exciting. We came to Tallahassee last year and enjoyed some baseball and softball. We were able to do that again this year, but we were really excited that the circus was back in town so that we could introduce our kids to the great event the circus is for Florida State," the Price family said.After months of rebuilding and performing without a finished home, the circus is finally back where it belongs with performances every weekend in April.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website. Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.Like us on FacebookFollow us on Instagram and X. ...read more read less