Peru, IN

Bring on the Kids: In Peru, Ind., the Circus Builds Character

Several hundred kids in Peru, Ind., (pop. 11,404) owe their strong character to the fact that there’s a circus in town, and has been for a long time.

At the turn of the century, several circuses wintered on farmland outside Peru, and although the Depression ended that tradition, the excitement continues each summer when the town hosts a circus performed by a troupe of several hundred local youngsters.

“It’s not about the circus; it’s about kids,” says Mike Wolf, a Circus City Festival volunteer. “I’m committing to the future.”

Wolf sacrifices a week’s vacation time from his grocery distribution job each July to work rigging during the shows, though his four children participated more than a decade ago.

Such dedication isn’t rare in Peru. Tom Hodgini, for instance, who started the circus more than 40 years ago, returns from Venice, Fla., each summer to support his former students as they make sure the show goes on.

Hodgini organized the first public performances of the amateur circus in 1959 after a friend nagged him to train 20 teenagers in various circus stunts. A former bareback rider and circus performer himself, Hodgini hauled out his old high-wire riggings, tied them between trees on his property, and shuttled the teens to the practices.

That first year Hodgini turned away so many ticket buyers crowding into a rented tent to sit on bleachers borrowed from the Little League diamond that he scheduled an impromptu third performance. Eventually, the operation moved to an abandoned high school gym, then a gutted lumberyard.

Today, performances are held in a 1,600-seat, air-conditioned arena and involve hundreds of community volunteers. For instance, Bill Anderson, a teacher at Peru High School, serves as head trainer, and Sylvia Miller, who paints diesel tanks by day, trains kids on trapeze and gymnastic acts at night.

“I was shy and afraid to try new stunts,” says Miller, recalling her own trapeze training as a girl. “Hodgini threatened to relegate me to the can-can dance. I learned immediately to never say can’t!”

Youngsters with talent and experience graduate to the more difficult aerial stunts, but all participants who commit to train four days a week, up to four hours a day from March through July, find a role under this big top. Laziness is taboo; Miller once cut her own son from the troupe when he tried to coast.

“I love to watch these kids gain confidence in themselves, the self-respect that comes from not goofing off, of taking responsibility to put equipment away and work on teams,” she says.

Or, as her granddaughter, Krystle Sharp, reacts as she gazes into the audience searching out parents and friends before her balancing act: “This will be fun!”

Volunteers who pull off the event each year echo that enthusiasm. The nonprofit association’s board roster includes the county’s chief deputy prosecuting attorney, a jewelry department manager at Wal-Mart, an Army Reserve commander, bank tellers, engineers, and a custodian.

Indeed, according to Judge Bruce Embrey, the show’s ringmaster, the benefit of living in the “Volunteer Capital of the World,” as he dubs his hometown, is “we don’t see these kids in my court. If they have a problem, they have caring adults willing to listen.”

Each year the circus board awards nearly $150,000 in college scholarship money, funded by a combination of ticket sales from each summer’s first performance and an anonymous donor in Peru. Scholarship renewals require a recipient to volunteer and help the next generation of performers in some capacity. The rest of the ticket sales pays for materials to handcraft costumes, keeps the arena in good repair, and funds advertising.

Hodgini couldn’t be prouder of his legacy. But its positive ripples don’t stop with graduation from the circus. When the 73-year-old founder suffered a massive stroke in 1991, doctors predicted he’d never walk again.

“My youngest son sat on my hospital bed and said, ‘Dad, remember what you say in circus? You can do anything, but you have to practice!’” Hodgini recalls. After regaining his stride, he continues to discipline himself to walk a half-mile each morning.

“You can spot the circus kids who try. Who am I to buck that lesson?” he asks.

Julie Sturgeon is a freelance writer in Greenwood, Ind.

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