Her first memory is of standing in a doorway holding a folded cape and watching an aerialist's performance.

"And I remember watching her and thinking, 'That's what I wanna do; that's what I wanna do,'" Kathy M. Garcia said. "And I was two years old."

Mrs. Garcia is a member of the family that owns the Star Family Circus & Thrill Show, which has had three shows daily throughout the Jefferson County Fair.

"It's something that gets in your blood," Mrs. Garcia said. "I mean, every inch of me loves what I do."

She was raised in a circus family and then raised her family that way. Along with her husband, two daughters and a son, Mrs. Garcia travels 10 months out of the year. For those 10 months, the family lives in three 40-foot by 8-foot trailers and the children are home-schooled. The other two months they live in Sarasota, Fla.

"The traveling is a very different kind of lifestyle," she said.

At every fair or festival, the family has to make sure the area around the trailers is clean since they have no privacy and anyone can see their "house."

Some of the equipment broke down in another state, so Mrs. Garcia is the only member of her family in Watertown.

"People see the glamour on the front side, but they don't see the hard work and the hours that go into it," she said.

Her family contracts with other families to join the act for approximately a year. Right now, the family is working with the Aguiar family, originally from Venezuela.

"It takes a lot of practice," Mrs. Garcia said. "They start when they're young."

And that's not a lie. Erick Aguiar is only 12 and balances on crooked pyramids of chairs and drives motorcycles around the inside of a small steel globe. His sister, Wendy, is 10 and performs on the aerial lyra, a hoop suspended above the ground. Their brother Edwin, 7, does not yet perform in the show.

They are the children of Jose Aguiar, who also rides inside the steel globe, and Vania Monteiro, who performs a hula hoop act and also participates in the motorcycle act. As a participant in the motorcycle act, she stands in the middle of the globe smiling while her husband and son race around her and give her high fives.

"The motorcycle thing here was electrifying," said Gayle P. McGregor, Carthage.

Mrs. McGregor attended both the 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. shows Friday. At the second show, she was joined by her daughter Hannah G.C., 14, and Hannah's friend Ashley L. Swan, 15, Carthage.

"I thought they were going to run into each other!" Ashley said.

Mrs. McGregor joked that she would never be willing to stand in the globe.

"I think this is the best thing at the fair," said Robert G. Narrow, Potsdam. "And it didn't cost anything."

Mr. Narrow and his wife, Deloras L., were at the fair with relatives, and said they come every year.

"This was actually better than the circus we paid to go to," said Susan J. Coller, Gouverneur, who is Mr. Narrow's sister-in-law.

"They were amazing," said Susan M. Tanner, Theresa. "They're so polished and professional. Any family member can sit here and watch it; there's nothing risqué. It's a good addition to the fair."

The circus will have shows at 1:30, 3:30 and 5 p.m. today.

"It was a very high quality show for Watertown," Mrs. McGregor said. "And for free."

Today is Last Blast and Sponsor Day. Rides are a special pay-one-price today — $17 for unlimited rides, noon to closing. Gate admission is only $4 today. The Stoney Roberts Demolition Derby finals will be at 3 p.m. in the Caprara Sport Center and the karaoke contest finals will be at 6 p.m.