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July 18, 2008

Garcia family providing thrills at LaGrange fair

By JOHN KLINE

LAGRANGE, Ind. — When it comes to entertaining a crowd, some people are just born to thrill.

Such is the case for circus patriarch Oscar Garcia, who along with his wife Kathey and their three children make up the Star Family Circus and Thrill Show performing at the LaGrange County 4-H Fair.

“I was born into the business, and my father too,” said the 49-year-old entertainer. “My grandfather started the whole thing many, many years ago.”

Based out of Sarasota, Fla., The Star Family Circus is not one to stay in one place for very long, boasting a touring schedule that would run most seasoned performers ragged.

“We’ll go pretty much anywhere,” Garcia said, noting that the family has performed in Texas, all along the East Coast, and everywhere in between. “We’re traveling pretty much six months out of the year when you add it all up. We perform about 175 days out of the year, and at three performances a day, that adds up to over 500 performances a year.”

For their LaGrange fair appearance, the family scheduled three free shows a day beginning at 4 p.m. and again at 6 and 8 p.m.

“We normally try to get in three shows a day, and each is about 30 minutes long,” Garcia said.

With such a hectic schedule, the family usually begins its tours during the first week in January and do not head back to their Sarasota home until the middle of November.

“We do a lot of fairs like this one,” Garcia said of their tour schedule, noting that he often enjoys doing small events even more than the large ones. “We like the smaller fairs. They are usually much more easygoing, and less stressful, and the people tend to be friendlier.”

When asked to describe the theme of the family circus, Garcia doesn’t even hesitate.

“This is a circus thrill show,” Garcia said. “We have animals, performing dogs, monkeys, jugglers — a little bit of everything.

“But our main attraction is the motorcycle stunts,” he said.

Perhaps the most exciting and dangerous of those stunts involves placing the motorcycles inside a giant, globe-shaped metal cage where they are ridden at high speeds for a gravity-defying display of agility and nerves.

But even for a family of professionals like the Garcias, circus performing is not always fun and games, requiring many hours of training, preparation, and a willingness to take risks.

“Yesterday I had a pretty bad crash with the motorcycle,” Garcia said. “I think I may have broken a rib. It really hurts to move, but the show must go on.”

For Toby Miller, of Kendallville, that risk is part of the show’s appeal.

“I’ve seen the motorcycle show. It’s very exciting,” Miller said. “I know I wouldn’t do it, but it’s fun to watch.”

Even with the risks and occasional injuries, Garcia said he can’t imagine doing anything else with his life.

“To me, this is just the way I live,” Garcia said. “It’s not like I don’t have any other skills. I can drive big semis, I can weld, I can paint cars professionally. But this is what I like to do. It’s in my blood.”

The Star Family Circus and Thrill Show will be performing at the LaGrange County 4-H Fair through Saturday.

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