Greetings from PERU AMATEUR CIRCUS

THE CLOWNERY STARTS on the sidewalk, even before you enter the big top. Crowds who show up to see the Peru Amateur Circus in Peru, Indiana, known as America's circus city, are greeted by merrymakers with silly jokes and swirly rainbow suckers. The smell of buttery popcorn fills the air; roaring trumpets fill the ears. Flossy cotton candy melts on the tongue. The circus is about to begin!

- BY Caroline Fanning

One of the delighted spectators is Debra Jo Myers, who nominated the circus as one of the Nicest Places in America. As a teenager, she used to fly through the air here with the greatest of ease. Now, she watches kiddie clowns spill into the arena, wearing curly rainbow wigs and big red shoes, trying hard to remember their choreography to the pump-up anthem blaring from the speakers. The resulting performance is funnier than anything a real clown could script.

Next, unicyclists pedal out, grasping one another's shoulders to form long chorus lines that rotate around the Circus performers, many of whom are teenagers, practice for years to get ready for the annual week of shows.

circular ring like hands on a clock. Then, finally, comes the flying trapeze. Star aerialist Kevin Nord, a new graduate of Maconaquah High School, flips and twists, soaring high above the crowds before diving toward his friend's outstretched hands. Caught!

The 1,500 spectators erupt with applause. For Nord. For all 200 youth performers. For the 400 local volunteers who make the whole thing possible.

Since 1960, crop after crop of Peru-area young people have taken their turn in the ring, often returning to help make the Peru Amateur Circus a bit better than it was the year before.

"So many things have evolved," says Myers, "and it's all happened strictly through the efforts of volunteers and people who wanted it sustained."