Want to be Awesome? Join the Circus.

Known in the 1920s as Circus City, the town of Peru, Indiana is keeping its heritage alive… through youth. An all-volunteer staff train 200 youth to perform each summer with acts like riding a unicycle over a teeter-totter that’s on fire while juggling pins… that are also on fire. They spin by their heads. And swing through the air upside down on a trapeze and flip to one of their friends who is also on a trapeze. Sound like fun?

“Nowhere in the world do young people have the opportunity for a more unique experience than here in Peru, Indiana. It takes about 2,000 people to stage Circus City Festival each year, but the only truly indispensable ones are the young people you see in our arena. They give Peru, Indiana, its identity and assure that we are in fact the Circus Capitol of the World” says The Peru Miami News.

And no youth are turned away. The only criteria are that performers are between the ages of 7 and 21.

It’s impressive, but not stuffy. Youth take big risks because messing up is ok. Laugh it off and try again. Perfection seems fake, so a fall here and there brings it all to life. The resulting talent is incredible.

For all the haters, give it your best shot.

It brings the community together- with volunteers who were once performers.

Some come from generations of circus performers. According to Time one recent performer “is the great-granddaughter of famed lion tamer Clyde Beatty, who went from cleaning cages to owning his own show.”

And it’s the circus and the youth talent that gives this small town of 11,000 hope. Once home to a prominent airforce base that closed in the 1990s, the town now rests on the circus as its claim to fame.

“It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done. It’s so exciting. If I could do anything, it would be this. I couldn’t imagine my life without circus” says one performer @bellaalleee.

“We’re like one big family. If I’m having a bad day, I know I can come here and my day will be better” says another teen performer @b_wayne_016.

If you want a thrill, this is it. And if you want belonging and community, you’ll find that too in Peru, Indiana at the circus.