BRADENTON -- Manatee commissioners vote unanimously against a proposal to put up a tent and perform circus shows up to 40 days a year, on a five acre plot in Oneco drew complaints.
Attorney Scott Rudacille told the commission the performances by Cirque Italia could be as little as four weekends of performances during the entire year.
Residents say squeezing a circus onto the plot off 53rd Avenue is not compatible with the small, semi-rural community in south county. A tent, parking spaces and other buildings could mean problems with noise, traffic and parking. Commissioner Misty Servia objected to the circus saying that even a part-time event schedule is too much. "Forty days of incompatibility is forty days too many. If we were going to put up something permanently here, we may have heard different comments."
Others objected to the adult content of the "Paranormal" circus, which resembles an edgy haunted house. Pastor Bill Bailey of nearby Happy Gospel Church says the Paranormal show focuses "a demon-possessed barking dog boy, a female hanging upside down by her head, blood, gore and other filth."
While all six commissioners present voted against the plan, Commissioner George Kruse went out of his way to say he was voting no because of the noise and traffic concerns, not because of the content. "I don't need the ACLU coming after me saying I'm fighting someone's First Amendment rights." Kruse says there's a multiplex less than a mile from the site showing R-rated movies that are just as adult as anything at the circus.
Cirque Italia has the option of presenting a new plan for the site to commissioners.
Photo: Canva