Surrender

For these massive circuses, the solution was to discontinue the parade.  Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey stopped parading in 1921.  Their main competitors of the American Circus Corporation shows held on to the tradition for a few years until finally calling it quits in 1925.  Smaller circuses continued parading into the 1930s, but they ultimately went broke and were out of business before the end of the Great Depression.  The once resplendent wagons, now of little use, were left behind to rot away in the elements.