Family circus to wow fairgoers

Circus Incredible, a true family show both in the performers themselves and its audience, is returning to the New Jersey State Fair-Sussex County Farm and Horse Show this year.

The act features Lyric Wallenda; her husband, Simon Arestov; and their son, 8-year-old Alexander. Both Wallenda and Arestov come from circus-performing families, and they’re continuing the tradition.

The family circus

Lyric Wallenda is a seventh-generation circus performer. Her family came to the United States in the 1920s from Europe and toured with the Ringling Brothers for 18 years. Her great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, then began his own show, traveling and performing bigger stunts across the country, generating a great level of recognition for the family name. Eventually, the Wallendas became known for their high wire and aerial work.

Of course, not every act was perfect over seven generations of stunts. Wallenda recalled her family’s 1962 fall in Detroit, Mich. when a seven-person pyramid on the high wire failed, leaving two people dead and one paralyzed.

“But the show must go on,” Wallenda said. After the tragedy, the family continued their show in Detroit, and later, their story was re-created as a movie titled “The Great Wallendas.”

Wallenda and Arestov met in New Jersey while they were both performing on a traveling show in 2003.

Arestov is an acrobat and a second-generation circus performer. His family, though originally from Russia, came to the U.S. the early 90s from Canada.

The pair has been together for 22 years, and officially started Circus Incredible in the summer of 2013, when they decided to take the next step and build their own spectacle. Now, Circus Incredible tours across the northeast, performing at NBA halftime shows, the NFL Pro Bowl and, of course, the New Jersey State Fair.

Next-generation stunts

In Circus Incredible’s show, Arestov performs the Rolla Bolla, a gravity-defying balancing act upon stacked cylinders and platforms. And now, the duo’s son Alexander joins his dad for this performance, standing on a pedestal about six feet high and balancing on a cylinder on a board.

Alexander also performs his own solo trick, which officially became part of the Circus Incredible act during the 2025 NBA basketball season.

“The biggest thing is the confidence to go out in front of an audience,” Wallenda said. “He’s got showmanship. We don’t have to work on that. He steals the show. He’s a hard act to follow.”

When Alexander was 17 days old, Wallenda and Arestov brought him out on the show for the first time wearing a tuxedo and introducing him to the crowd. He made his professional debut, actually performing in the act, at 19 months old during a halftime show for the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Alexander performed a balancing trick in Arestov’s hand, then moved onto his shoulders and waved the American flag.

It was a full-circle moment for the family. Madison Square Garden was the first venue Wallenda’s great grandparents played when they came to the United States.

“So it had meaning, and I think for my husband it meant a lot as well,” Wallenda said. She said she is proud to carry on the family circus tradition, as Circus Incredible allows them to preserve that legacy in a “healthy and happy environment.”

Incredible feats

Bringing Circus Incredible to new audiences - especially in rural areas where many have never seen a circus - is one of the best parts of the job for Wallenda.

“It’s really rewarding when people come up to us after the show,” she said.

Circus Incredible is scheduled to perform two shows daily during the New Jersey State Fair, and three on the weekends, packed beginning to end with acrobatics and aerial stunts, and some elements of humor.

The family-friendly show is loved by audiences of all ages.

“It appeals to everybody,” said Wallenda. “From little kids - people come up to us after the show and they say ‘our kids, their eyes were glued, they’ve never sat so still’ so that tells us we are doing something right to hold their attention for 25 minutes - and then all the way to grandparents. They recognize the name.”