Morning Sentinel
Circus menagerie rare on circuit
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BY DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 08/12/2008

SKOWHEGAN -- Life on the road is good for fourth-generation circus performer and owner Serge Coronas and his family.

Coronas and Stevie, his wife of 33 years, live in a $250,000 motor home and their four children -- fifth-generation circus Coronas -- work in the family business.

"We don't have it rough," said Coronas, owner of Circus Hollywood, based in Bradenton, Fla. "We do about 20,000 miles a year. We live in nice trailers on the road and during the winter when we're in Florida we work within 100 miles of our home."

Circus Hollywood is more than just the thrilling high-wire act, trapeze artists, showgirls and the breath-taking Globe of Death under the red and white big top.

"We're a little unique from the other circuses -- number one, we're Shriners, we raise money for crippled children," Coronas, 57, said. "We do Shrine circuses during the winter time and when the fair season starts, then we do fairs and state fairs. The we do Shrine circuses in November."

Coronas, once a high-wire performer himself who is now the circus ringmaster, said the circus travels with 80 animals in 12 trucks, including eight big tractor trailers. Animal acts include the Hollywood Racing Pigs and side shows that include a giant pig, a huge turtle and a tiny, full grown horse.

There are two reticulated giraffes, each standing 19 feet above the ground, a popular attraction for youngsters who feed them slices of carrot inside a tent with other animals.

"We're probably the only circus left traveling with a menagerie," he said. "Shows like us, we're the only ones now.

"There isn't anything for kids anymore. I'm oldfashioned, you know? The stuff that kids get exposed to -- the rotten stuff that's on television."

Coronas, who ran afoul of animal activities rules in the late 1990s, said the show now travels with modern, portable stables that exceed all the minimum standards for caring for animals. The show's Friesian horses travel in a $200,000 trailer, he said.

He said his father and his uncle came to America -- to the Steel Pier in Atlantic City -- in 1951 from Czechoslovakia. Both were performers in the old country, but the family went their separate ways as World War II raged in Europe.

Coronas' oldest son Sergie, 30, rides a motorcycle inside the Globe of Death. Daughter Nicole, 27, performs the aerial acrobatic acts and youngest daughter Crystal, 18, performs with hoops.

Youngest son Devon, 3, is a performer in the making, Coronas said. He said his wife works the Friesian horses' "Liberty Act" in the circus.

The circus also has a family "transformation act" from Romania traveling to the Skowhegan fair this year.

"It's probably one of the top acts, that type of act, in the circus business," he said. "It's something you wouldn't see in a fair. You'd have to go to a major Shrine Circus or to Las Vegas to see that type of act."

Coronas said the attraction at the Skowhegan State Fair is that the big-top circus, the racing pigs and the side shows all are included in the price of admission to the fair.

The 190th Skowhegan State Fair continues today with 4-H shows, exhibition halls, rides and food.

Gates open for the fair today at 7 a.m. The Fiesta Shows midway opens at noon.

The fair runs daily through Sunday, with harness racing every day.

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