Under the big top: Circus comes to the fairgrounds

DUNBAR - Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, prepare to be astounded, amazed, awed and astonished by three rings of performing animals, acrobats, aerialists, clowns, the human cannonball and more, all under the L. E. Barnes Circus Big Top at the Fayette County Fairgrounds on Aug. 23 and 24.

The circus, with 40 performers and 60 animals, will take visitors back to the traveling shows of the 1940s and '50s, says Gordon MacKay, national marketing director.

The L.E. Barnes Circus travels with 25 trailer trucks and, since making its debut this March, has put on 336 performances in its huge red and white tent.

Manager Dave Hoover will perform with six female Nubian lions in a steel arena. Hoover has also been working with two young males, who may be ready to perform at the fairgrounds located along Route 119 in Dunbar Township, between Connellsville and Uniontown.

Hoover's son, George, has a center ring 'liberty act' featuring Bactrian (two-humped) camels, llamas, zebras, horses and ponies dancing two-by-two without reins, under his subtle commands.

Other animal performers include:

A pair of opposites: A Belgian draft horse and a miniature horse performing together

Eight white Welsh Mountain ponies performing at liberty.

And the Captain King Elephant Herd.

Visitors can visit the animals up close in a menagerie tent before and after the performances.

Human performers are just as varied.

In addition to traditional white-faced clowns, called 'joeys' in circus parlance, Ringmaster John Moss will introduce crowds to Veselina Gencheva, a member of the 1996 Bulgarian Ladies Gymnastics team who now performs as the Silver Eagle, a human cannonball. She will be shot 100 feet from a massive cannon.

The Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Team, silver medalists in 1996, will perform.

Also, aerial artist Rebecca Ostroff and the Armando Christini Duo Trampoline will seemingly defy gravity with their acts, all perfected over thousands of hours in training.

The L.E. Barnes Circus is named after Dave Hoover's wife, Lois E. Barnes, whose family owned the Beers-Barnes Circus, which performed in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio for 40 years before closing in 1967.

Combined, Hoover and Barnes have 100 years of circus experience.

L.E. Barnes is the first and only circus in the world named after a woman, according to MacKay. It represents 'a supreme achievement in clean amusement.'

Ticket prices are $12 for adults; $5 for children. Special free children's tickets will be available at area merchants the day before the show. Performances will be held Thursday, Aug. 23, and Friday, Aug. 24, at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.