Family act brings circus to Frederick County Fair

CLEAR BROOK — The Frederick County Fair is in full swing, offering an array of familiar favorites to families and friends looking to ring in the end of summer.

However, there’s also something new waiting to welcome spectators. When you walk through the fairground’s gates, motorcycles, tightrope walkers and aerial performers are just around the corner.

If you’ve ever thought about running away to join the circus, you finally have a shot. Victoria Circus, a family-run performance company, has brought its multi-talented, multi-generational act to the fair for the very first time.

“I was born in the circus, basically,” said Alex Murcia, who rides motorcycles around a spherical cage during the show. “...I was born in Miami, Florida, because that’s where the show was.”

Murcia’s parents, who come from a combined 16 generations of circus performers, started Victoria Circus in 2003. Murcia’s two little sisters, his cousin and his fiancée are also part of the show, which is an open air circus without a tent.

The family has spent at least 10 months of each of the past 20 years traveling together to fairs in cities and towns all over the country.

Murcia has spent almost his entire life on the road, and if things go his way, that won’t change anytime soon.

“I had a chance to have, like, what you would call a normal job in town during COVID, actually, when all the carnivals, shows, fairs got shut down. And I was driving a FedEx truck doing deliveries, and that was alright. I’m glad I had a job at the time that was considered essential, that wasn’t closed. And then when the shows opened back up, that’s when I really realized, like it hit me like, no, I really like what I do after getting to experience something else, and just not taking stuff for granted,” Murcia said.

Since getting back on the road, Murcia says his family hasn’t stopped. They spend long days and nights traveling from place to place. Sometimes their trucks break down. Sometimes tires go flat. Sometimes, the RV they live in together starts to feel a bit cramped.

For Murcia, though, “It’s all a part of the lifestyle.” He says that even when towns offer his family a hotel for the week, they prefer to stay in their RV, on-site, so that they can be close to the fair. They also like to get out and explore the places where they perform, finding the good places to eat and shop, and visiting nearby parks.

Murcia says there are many families like his, including his fiancèe’s. Her family has a traveling show in Mexico, which is part of the reason why he says they were able to come together. It would be difficult, he explained, to have a relationship with someone who lived in one place when he typically lives in a different town every week.

And while it might not be everybody’s dream come true, for Murcia, being so close to family all the time is a highlight.

“It’s cool that we all work together,” he said. “You know, there’s not a lot of jobs where you can say you work with your family, live with your family. And that’s important to me.”

His family continues to expand their generations of circus performers through his two little sisters, ages eight and 10, who already have their own acts in the show.

“They’re just starting out, you know, we have them doing the ground acts,” said Murcia. “The older sister, her name’s Victoria, she’s doing the hula hoops. But we’re actually practicing her in the cage already. So we’re hoping that next year she’ll ... be able to start riding in there, too.”

Despite his own lifelong connection to the industry, Murcia said that the concept of running away and joining the circus isn’t a myth. In fact, he says he knows plenty of people who have done it.

“Luckily for me I was in it, and I had people that could teach me. But I do know a lot of people that literally just went with the circus. They were from Georgia and the circus picked them up and took the to Ohio,” he said.

It’s an unconventional way of life, but Murcia wouldn’t change it — from the days where the family is running low on cash to the times where they’re riding the high of fair season. Again, Murcia emphasized, it’s all part of the lifestyle.

“I fell in love with the business and how we work,” he said. “... We have days that are very good, and days that you’re like, ‘oh, the diesel for the next town,’ and you’re just flat broke. But that’s like any business. It’s very seasonal. ... That’s part of the excitement, too, I think.”

Over the years, Murcia says he’s also acquired an eclectic array of skills, from welding to electrical work to acting as a mechanic on the family’s trucks. All of this behind the scenes work is important to Murcia, and he emphasized that he hopes people who watch the show and visit the fair will keep those important workers in mind when enjoying the entertainment and activities.

Murcia and his family have been on countless adventures, both within the U.S. and overseas in places like Japan, the Bahamas and Saudi Arabia. He said he likes that his family’s show brings a circus to places that might get skipped by bigger name shows, which typically focus on major cities. He loves that his job takes him to new places all the time, and says he gets restless if they stay in one place for too long.

However, he did say that places like Frederick County are his favorite, and that he hopes his family will return to the fair there in coming years.

“You know, we’ve worked in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, everywhere you can name. And there’s an appeal to being in the big cities, but I like being out here in the country, you know what I’m saying? It’s just more relaxed, people are nicer, you’re not dealing with traffic. And these small communities, I feel like the people have each others’ backs more,” he said.

Victoria Circus will be at the Frederick County Fair through Saturday. There are two shows each evening, one at 6 p.m. and one at 8 p.m. On Saturday, shows will be at 2, 5 and 7:30 p.m. Watching the circus is free with the price of admission to the fair, which is $10 for adults (12 and up), $5 for children ages 6-11 and free for children age 5 and under.

— Contact Molly Williams at [email protected]

Thursday's fair schedule

4 p.m. Gates open

4:30 p.m. Market Beef Show - show barn

5-10 p.m. Carnival rides

6-9 p.m. Mini Menagerie Petting Zoo

6:30 p.m. Victoria Circus

6:30 p.m. Kaleb Austin and Zac Townsend - south lawn stage

7 p.m. Demolition Derby - grandstands

8 p.m. Victoria Circus

Log In

Comments are reviewed by moderators so they may not immediatelyappear. We appreciate your patience.