Circus Heritage, then and now, in Peru, Indiana

Once upon a historic time, a touring circus started spending the winter in the Indiana city of Peru. Circus performers, exotic animals (camels, tigers, ostriches, hippos and more) and equipment would "winter" and train in the town in Miami County. Those beginnings in the late 1800s kick-started a heritage that flourishes, in a different way, to this day in Peru, which trumpets itself as the "Circus Capital of the World". Every summer now, the Peru Amateur Circus showcases a youth program in which about 200 local young people from ages 7 to 21 practice and perform acts such as juggling, tumbling and flying on the trapeze under a permanent, three-ring "big top". It's part of the Circus City Festival's fanfare that also features one of the largest parades in Indiana. To share insights about the deep circus heritage in Peru and how it was revived after the "wintering" of traveling circuses ended in the early 1940s, Nelson will be joined in studio by three guests. The guests, all from Miami County and board members of the Peru Amateur Circus, will be: Tim Bessignano, a circus historian who also has served for 33 years on the Circus City Festival's board. He oversees the circus wagon shop and the acquisition of horses for the parade. Kathi Greene, who has been immersed in the circus heritage in Peru for 51 years, starting when she was one of the original youth performers. She has been a rigger, clown and trainer; her grandchildren are the fourth-generation of her family to be involved in the circus. And Matt Barnett, a history teacher at Maconaquah Middle School.