Published: June 28, 2009 10:23 pm      

HOT SPOT: Peru’s annual festival turns 50

Special reunion performances will highlight annual circus

PERU — For 50 years, citizens of Miami County have celebrated the community’s long history as the former winter quarters of America’s traveling circuses.

That celebration continues with the annual Circus City Festival from July 11 through 18, including 10 performances of the amateur circus.

Like many Miami County residents, Sandy Ploss, co-producer of the annual circus performance, has a long association with the annual festival.

Ploss performed on the side-by-side trapeze in 1962 and also performed on the rolling glove and juggling acts.

“My family has been involved with the circus and festival for many years,” Ploss said. “It’s not unusual to find numerous generations of the same family taking part in the circus.”

Ploss said the Circus City Festival is the big event in Miami County, a festival that involves everyone in the county. She said the festival will attract more than 10,000 people to the community.

“It’s very exciting,” she said of the upcoming festival. “Fifty years is a long time for a not-for-profit organization to keep going. We have been able to keep the young people interested in the program.”

The festival kicks off on July 11 and will close Seventh Street in Peru during the entire run of the event.

Ploss said there are rides, food booths and vendors selling handmade items during the week.

The community hosts the Circus City parade starting at 10 a.m. July 18

“It is the second-largest parade in Indiana,” Ploss said. “Only the Indianapolis 500 Festival parade is larger.”

Peru and Milwaukee are the only communities in the United States to host a circus parade on an annual basis.

Most of the performers in the circus are between the ages of 7 and 21, according to Ploss. She said 213 participants, representing all three-school systems in Miami County, will take part in the performances.

“We encourage people to come to the circus performances on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,” Ploss said. “Tickets for the weekend performances sell out quickly.”

Because this is the 50th celebration of the festival and circus, Ploss said there will be a gathering of alumni who performed in the circus and the Circus Band will also have a reunion.

“We’re still in the original building,” Ploss said of the Circus City Center building, which was damaged by fire in 2008. “All the repairs have been completed. The fire destroyed several historic posters, but a group has recreated those.”

Ploss said one of the highlights of the circus performance will be an all-girl act on the high wire, which will perform an eight-person pyramid.

Show times for the circus are: 2 and 7 p.m. on July 11 and July 18; 3 p.m. on July 12; 7 p.m. on July 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

• Ken de la Bastide is the Kokomo Tribune enterprise editor. He can be reached at (765) 454-8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com