RICHWOOD — A Big Top, three rings and three multiple-generation circus families came to town to bring back the days when kids ran after the circus parade to watch the elephants hoist the tents.

        Lions lazed in the afternoon sun after a meal of raw meat. Zebras flicked their tails as the L.E. Barnes Circus set down stakeson its 2,000-seat Bi Top tent at the Richwood Flea Market in Boone County.

David Hoover, a Middletown native, puts lions through their paces in the hoop of fire. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        “This circus is a new circus, celebrating the old,” Ringmaster John Moss of Knoxville, Tenn., said. “We're trying to bring back that magical era from the mid-1900s — everything their grandparents remember about a circus.”

        The L.E. Barnes Circus, produced by the Jungle Land Zoo in Kissimmee, Fla., and owned by the Hoover family, is on its first road tour. With a live band that performs circus music from the late 1800s and performers from venerable circus families, the traditional three-ring show is trying to bring back the era of the Big Top.

        “Circuses are getting away from circus,” said Dave Hoover, lion trainer for 30 years and co- founder of the circus. “They don't play live circus music and they don't carry many animals.”

        Barbara Moloney of Jonesvilleand her husband Terry were eyeing the various prize booths at the front of the circus before the an early afternoon show began. Music was already filtering out of the main tent, and the whole family seemed excited.

        “We've never been to a circus before and we wanted to come to a circus,” Ms. Moloney said.

        The couple had brought their son Nick, 5, who wanted to see the large animals. “Tigers jump through fire,” Nick said.

        The circus features acrobats, clowns and an aerial ballet on ropes, in addition to large-animal acts with elephants and lions. The show ends with Bulgaria-born Veselina Genchsva, 20, being shot out of a cannon over the audience as the Human Cannonball, something she says that a modern audience is surprised to see.
       

Circus history, roots
        The circus is named after Mr. Hoover's wife, Lois E. Barnes-Hoover, whose family has been in the circus business since the late 1800s. The Barnes name has been used in more circus show acts than any other in the United States, according to marketing director Gordon MacKay.

        Ms. Barnes-Hoover is also the first woman in American history to have a circus named after her.

        Along with the Barneses, there is the sixth-generation Zoppecircus family and the Herriotts, a fifth-generation circus family. The acts themselves hark back to the old circus tradition.

        There is a tongue-in-cheek lion act, featuring six female lions and two males, which centers on Mr. Hoover with a whip and chair as an old-fashioned lion tamer. The lions jump through hoops of fire and stand in pyramid formation.

        “I get hurt all the time,” Mr. Hoover said. “I've been hospitalized 13 times. They don't have to be mad at you to go after you. It's just instinct,” he said of the lions.
       

Modern approach to animals
        Though the circus is trying to bring back animal acts, and puts on some old-time shows, that does not mean the animals are treated in some of the more inhumane ways of the past.

        “I like what I'm seeing here,” Becky Reiter, director of the Boone County Animal Shelter, said. “It's more humane than I've seen in the past. They don't have the elephants in shackles. They seem to have adequate space. I worry about the asphalt but it looks like they're accommodated well with tents and bedding down.”

        Ms. Reiter, along with a veterinary technician, is required by a Boone County ordinance to verify that the circus' U.S. Department of Agriculture papers are in order, to inspect the circus and then to issue or deny it a commercial animal establishment license, based on the animals' conditions and care.

        After touring the grounds and inspecting the animals, she issued the temporary license to the circus. “Everything looks great,” Ms. Reiter said.

        Laura Herriott, superintendent of animals, traces five generations of circus family. At 16 her mother ran away to join the circus, where she met Ms. Herriott's father. Ms. Herriott's grandfather toured with the 101 Ranch Real Wild West Show at the turn of the century. She assures that the animals are trained in a modern, hands-on style using a reward system.

        “I live five feet from my animals, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Ms. Herriott, who also is a trainer and handles animals in the L. E. Barnes show in addition to her superintendent duties. “I'm a trainer. I expand an animal's mind. You can't train an animal with abuse.”
       

Old-time tent path
        The L.E. Barnes Circus went on the road for the first time in March. This is the show's first in Kentucky. Co-owner of the Richmond Flea Market, Mike Stallings,whom the circus contacted for the tour by word of mouth, said that he hopes to make the L.E. Barnes Circus a tradition at the flea market.

        The show is following an old-time tent migration path and put on several shows in Ohio in August and September.

        “We got referrals from the sites they've been to before, and everybody was very, very complimentary,” said Mr. Stallings, whose business is receiving a small percentage of ticket sales.

        “It was so cool. I came in at 8 a.m. and there are three elephants standing in my parking lot. I had to call home.”

        The circus, which got into town at 1:30 a.m. Thursday after a Wednesday show in Troy, Ohio, planned to pull up stakes Fridaynight right after the last performance to head to Louisville, where it will be performing today.

        According to show manager Jay Walther, “The show must go on.”
       

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