The Wayne County Fair was quite the week-long event this year. The size of the crowds I saw when I went provided testimony to its popularity.

There was a late addition to the fair’s lineup of entertainment that intrigued me. The Flying Wallendas brought their amazing aerial show to Palmyra.

The Flying Wallendas is a circus act and group of daredevil stunt performers who perform high-wire acts without a safety net. They were first known as The Great Wallendas, but the current name was coined by the press in the 1940s and stuck.

Performing without a net happened by accident. For a show in 1928 with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, their net never made the trip in time for a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Always living by the mantra “the show must go on,” they performed without any net that day for the first time and have been doing so ever since.

The Wallendas are a rare family act. Few are........

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