The Show Must Go On

George's father would send him money for the bills. He would attend school in the morning and practice his horseback riding in the afternoon. He did his own grocery shopping by bicycle. For incidentals, he would ride a go-cart down to a nearby farm store.

When he attended Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota, his circus skills made him stand out on the Cougars' football team. Whenever they won a game, George would do back handsprings down the length of the field. "And that's just our lineman," his coach commented to a rival after one win.

After receiving an associate's degree from Manatee Community College, George joined the family circus full time too. He could juggle, do acrobatic routines, ride bareback, and perform with the elephants. "If I had to choose what I thought were my natural abilities," he says, "I would say tumbling and horseback."

In 1989, when the Hannefords appeared at the Broward County Fair, Vicki stopped into the Swap Shop to visit owner Preston Henn. She wanted to bring the Hanneford circus to the Swap Shop for some performances after the fair closed. Henn moved a carousel out of the way, and the Hannefords set up a ring inside the Swap Shop building near the concession stands.

The Hanneford Family Circus has been a permanent fixture at the Swap Shop ever since. The circus brought in customers for Henn and entertained those who came there to shop. "It's worked out so well that I spend a million a year to keep them there," Henn says.

Indeed, the circus is so entwined in the Swap Shop business that Henn uses little red- and white-striped circus tents as buttons on his website. And when motorists enter the Swap Shop parking lot, a large clock shows when the next circus performance will be held. He has also painted the exterior of the Swap Shop building with images of elephants and tigers.

Over the years, Henn put in aluminum stadium seating for the audience and installed a water fountain display that entertains the audience between acts. The circus was once free, but a couple of years ago, the Swap Shop started charging $1 admission during the week and $2 on the weekends.

(The circus has served as springboard to a measure of pop-culture notoriety for at least one performer. One of the clowns who performed in the Hanneford Family Circus, Stephen "Steve-O" Glover, is a cast member of the MTV show Jackass and appears in the recent movie of the same name. He earned this post by doing such stunts as landing in a kiddie pool filled with elephant manure -- from the Swap Shop -- and inching down a tightrope over a pit of alligators with a hank of meat hanging from his groin.)

In addition to giving the Hannefords a steady gig, the Swap Shop shelters the Hannefords' circus from the vagaries of fashion -- and provides much the same protection for the drive-in movie. The Swap Shop is one of the few drive-ins in the United States that still shows first-run films. The Hannefords don't really need to keep track of the number of people who see performances. Henn gives them the freedom to concentrate on the quality of the show.

The Swap Shop also allows the Hannefords to afford their elephants. George III estimates that with feed and veterinary care, it costs about $100,000 a year to take care of his family's three largest siblings. Carol, Liz, and Patty will probably live to 70 years of age, so finding a secure source of money for their upkeep is a godsend for the family.

George Jr., now 79, and his wife, Vicki, 67, still oversee the family's circus. Vicki designs and makes all the costumes for the show. But the couple are slowly giving over more responsibility to their children. Eventually, George III will probably be in charge of the Swap Shop circus.

Catherine recently married Brett Carden from the George Carden Circus International. She expects that soon she will leave her family to work with her husband. She has worked with Ringling and in other major circuses, yet she feels that she has never really left home. She wants to try bigger and more showy productions than the Swap Shop can give her; for instance, she spent $12,000 last year staging a Marilyn Monroe routine for her horse act. "In a way, this is my time," she says. But she is also thinking about children and wondering how long she wants to continue performing.

George, though, expects to stay for as long as Henn will have the Hannefords. And even though the circus might not draw the crowds that it did in his grandfather's time, George says if he has children, he will teach them the circus arts.