Guilford Fair Circus

Featuring The Flying Wallendas

Circus showtimes:

Friday: 5:00pm, 7:00pm
Saturday:  1:00pm, 4:00pm, 7:00pm
Sunday: 1:00pm, 4:00pm

All times subject to change. Please check website for updated info.

The Flying Wallendas

The Flying Wallendas have been walking across tightropes since 1922, and are known for their impressive feats of 4 person, 3 level pyramids and 7 person pyramids. The Flying Wallendas is a family act which has incorporated seven generations of family members throughout the years since the start of their circus debut.

How it all go started; Karl Wallenda was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1905. He was performing in the family show at age six and doing stunts in beer halls at age eleven. His feature was stacking several chairs and doing a handstand on the top chair. In the early 1920s, he answered an ad in a trade paper for “an experienced hand balancer with courage.” The job consisted of following behind a wire-walker, Louis Weitzmann, out to the middle of the wire and doing a handstand on Weitzmann’s feet as he lay down on the cable. Karl learned the art from him and in 1922, began to develop his own act, recruiting his brother Herman, an aerialist named Josef Geiger, and a teenage girl, Helen Kreis, who would eventually become Karl’s wife.

The Great Wallendas were headliners with Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus during much of the 1930s and 1940s.  

Now the faces representing the Wallendas are grandchildren, Tino and Delilah, Tino’s wife Olinka and their daughters Alida and Aurelia, Alessandro, Sacha Pavlata (a fifth generation performer of an esteemed circus family), Robinson Cortes (a third generation circus performer and native of Columbia), Trevor McNabb, Rietta (6th Generation Wallenda), Lyric (7th Generation Wallenda, Rietta’s daughter).

The Arestov Family

Name a North American circus and in the last several years, the Arestov Family have probably been performers there. They live in Canada and are currently performing as a family in a variety of circus acts. We welcome Igor, Tatiana and George to the Guilford Fair.

Over the past few years, the Arestov Family has toured with: Circus World, Big Apple Circus to go, Garden Bros. Circus, Circus Maximus, The Giant Holiday Circus, Reid Bros. Circus, Yankee Doodle Circus, Famous Cole Indoor Circus, Cirque Leonardo, Super Circus, Cirque Estival, Tarzan Zerbini Circus, Jordan World Circus, Cirque de Jour, Cirque Mondo, and Cole Bros. Circus.

Igor Arestov was born in Cheliabinsk, Russia.  At age seven, he started his training in gymnastics. At 12, he combined training in Sport Tumbling, and at 16 was awarded Master of Sport in Tumbling. For the next four years, he served in the Soviet Union Army.  He later graduated from the prestigious Moscow State College of Circus Performing Arts and toured with the Moscow State Circus for 12 years throughout the Soviet Union republics, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Americas.

In 1985, Igor was awarded the trophy for the best acrobatics act at the International Youth Festival in Moscow. The following year, he performed at the opening ceremony of Goodwill Games in Moscow.

As an artistic director, Igor has created and performed: “Russian Bar, Comedy Acrobatics, Acrobat-Voltijors, Rag Doll, Hand-to-Hand, Acrobats – Eccentric, Balance, on Rola-Bola, and as a Juggling Duo.”

Igor and his wife Tatiana met in 1988 on tour in Ukraine. Besides the acrobatic act, they created the juggling duo act. In 1992, Igor and Tatiana immigrated to Canada. In 1993, their son George was born. George started to be trained in gymnastics and acrobatics at age three.

The Arestov Family have appeared on many TV programs, including: CTV Breakfast TV, Canada AM, BBC Special Presentations, and TFO Parents Planate. They also appeared at a Rolling Stones concert in Toronto for SARS Relief. Their fair performances, as well as many corporate engagements, have taken them to numerous cities and towns throughout Canada and the US.

AJ Silver

AJ Silver started his career as a professional rodeo trick rider performing such dangerous stunts as passing under the belly of a galloping horse. While on the rodeo trail he learned and perfected the cowboy arts and created a western variety act that he’s performed in prestigious venues around the world.

AJ combines trick roping, bullwhip artistry, boleadoras and comedy to create a unique, high energy, western variety act. With his ropes, whips and bolas flying through the air, he presents a spectacle that is visually stunning.

His crowd pleasing act has been featured in many venues including theater stages, variety cabarets, rodeos, circuses, sports arenas, nightclubs, television and private events worldwide.

Find out more about AJ here ->

Kristin the Komet

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