The Venardos Circus — a traveling, Broadway-style act — is a wholly human experience, as there are no animals in this circus. The performers sing, dance, launch each other into the air, juggle and make the crowd laugh. Ringmaster Kevin Venardos had been a “paid actor” in multiple circuses, including the Ringling Brothers, before he had an idea in 2014 to create his own circus. He explained to LEO why his circus does not have animals. 

“I did not do the no animals because of some political reason,” Venardos said. “Really my whole circus is around people. I abhor the idea of abuse and, looking out into the future, I do not see a future for animals in the circus. … I simply want to move forward. I want a sustainable means of delivering joy to people. I want to cut through the crap of this argument on either side. It gets in the way of the whole reason [of a circus] — the joy of it.”

We stopped by one the performances earlier this week to take some photos. The circus is performing at Waterfront Park through Sept. 15. Buy tickets for the final weekend here.