Sedan might not scream “clown capital of the world,” but once you find out Emmett Kelly—America’s most famous sad-faced clown—was born here in 1898, it all starts to make perfect sense. The museum is tucked inside the old Sedan Opera House, which feels exactly right. If you’re going to honor a performer, do it in an auditorium.
Inside, you’ll find a trove of photos and memorabilia from Kelly’s career, though not many personal items. There’s a corner with paintings he did for the local high school, and another with a performance gown worn by his mother. It’s a heartfelt little mash-up of art, circus life, and Kansas roots.
Kelly didn’t exactly fall into clowning overnight. He started out as a cartoonist and eventually worked his way into the circus ring as Weary Willie—the down-and-out hobo clown who became an American icon. Back then, circuses weren’t hiring sad clowns, but Kelly made it work.
One especially powerful part of his story—though not really featured in the museum—is the 1944 circus fire in Hartford, Connecticut. The tent caught fire during a show, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more. Kelly, in full makeup, helped fight the flames and guide people to safety. Another Kansan, Merle Evans from Columbus, was the bandleader that night. He spotted the fire and had the band play “Stars and Stripes Forever”—circus code for “something is very, very wrong.” The band kept playing until it was too dangerous to stay.
Emmett Kelly himself came to Sedan for the museum’s grand opening in 1967, which gives the whole place a kind of quiet, authentic magic you can’t fake.
But it’s not just about the circus.
In true Kansas fashion, there’s also an enormous, delightfully weird collection of decorative whiskey bottles and shot glasses. We’re talking U.S. states, politicians, old cars, Elvis—if you can imagine it, someone bottled it. As someone who’s been collecting shot glasses for over 30 years, I was thrilled.
Legend has it the original collector hauled the whole thing around in a trailer and charged folks to look. Try that now and you’d be more “local oddball” than “mobile museum.” Supposedly, he left instructions in his will that whatever town he died in would inherit the whole collection. Guess where he passed? Sedan.
When I asked the sweet woman at the front desk, she hadn’t heard that exact story, but said most of the bottles came from a local donor and others just kept adding on.
There’s also a third room filled with antique radios and printing equipment from Sedan’s newspaper days. It’s a cozy, quirky, and thoroughly Kansan stop that mixes circus lore, local history, and a touch of kitsch.
Then—because life in Kansas always includes at least one surprise—I skipped (yes, skipped) down the Yellow Brick Road. There’s an actual one in Sedan, though the Kansas sun has bleached parts of it pale. Still, it was fun to stroll down the bricks pretending I had Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion with me. I didn’t mention the Scarecrow because clearly, I was the one who needed the brains.
Just across the road sits a charming boutique called The Red Buffalo Store. Inside was a kind, old-school hippie working around the store, and we had a great chat while I shopped. Don’t miss it.
And finally, catty-corner from the shop is Gunnar’s Distillery, housed in a gorgeous old building with both a restaurant and the distillery. I didn’t sample the whiskey (designated driver life), but I did walk away with a bottle—and, of course, a shot glass for the collection.
For other Road Trips around Kansas and beyond check out the cleverly titled: Road Trips