On the road again
Pete Wood, a circus performer since he was a child, now raises produce and sells it at farmer’s markets and at his farm in Riverview. Penny Fletcher PhotoBrit makes Florida farming his life
By PENNY FLETCHER
from:observernews.com
17/11/2011
RIVERVIEW, FL — Pete Wood has spent his whole life on the road.
Once known as Safari Pete, now he’s known as Farmer Pete but he’s still taking his show on the road.
Born in 1943, Pete grew up in Lancashire, England, where his parents performed circus acts. At 10, he was walking the high wire and training circus ponies for his dad’s acts.
Then, in 1966, he moved to Canada because he had cousins, uncles, aunts and a grandmother there.
“I got off the boat on a Monday and started work at a furniture store on Wednesday. Then I met a guy who worked with a circus and I was off.”
Gradually Pete built his own circus. First he purchased a Ferris wheel and some kiddie rides. Then he built a roller coaster and started traveling all of North America; Canada, Mexico and the United States.
He added fun houses and a cotton candy trailer and 17 games and traveled North America from top to bottom.
One day, he decided to sell out and take a job at Farm Fun Park in Ontario. But soon, he put in his own show again- this time, called Circus Fantasy where he clowned and worked with animals and had a petting zoo.
One winter he played in Sarasota and realized how many other show people lived on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
He loved it immediately but didn’t settle here just yet.
“I had a contract with Boblo Island in Ontario that lasted nine years.” He fulfilled it, but spent his winters in Florida. By that time, he had more than 1,000 animals in an act called Old MacDonald’s Zoo and it took three semi-trucks to transport them.
“Moving from place to place wasn’t easy,” Pete said.
Yet he would come to Florida when the northern roads got too cold to travel and work with his animals, costumes and acts. That’s when he began doing shows at the Florida State Fair in Tampa.
By then he also had a dog and monkey show and raced roosters and runner ducks.
But then there was a party. A biigggg…. Party.
Once known as Safari Pete, now he’s known as Farmer Pete but he’s still taking his show on the road.
Born in 1943, Pete grew up in Lancashire, England, where his parents performed circus acts. At 10, he was walking the high wire and training circus ponies for his dad’s acts.
Then, in 1966, he moved to Canada because he had cousins, uncles, aunts and a grandmother there.
“I got off the boat on a Monday and started work at a furniture store on Wednesday. Then I met a guy who worked with a circus and I was off.”
Gradually Pete built his own circus. First he purchased a Ferris wheel and some kiddie rides. Then he built a roller coaster and started traveling all of North America; Canada, Mexico and the United States.
He added fun houses and a cotton candy trailer and 17 games and traveled North America from top to bottom.
One day, he decided to sell out and take a job at Farm Fun Park in Ontario. But soon, he put in his own show again- this time, called Circus Fantasy where he clowned and worked with animals and had a petting zoo.
One winter he played in Sarasota and realized how many other show people lived on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
He loved it immediately but didn’t settle here just yet.
“I had a contract with Boblo Island in Ontario that lasted nine years.” He fulfilled it, but spent his winters in Florida. By that time, he had more than 1,000 animals in an act called Old MacDonald’s Zoo and it took three semi-trucks to transport them.
“Moving from place to place wasn’t easy,” Pete said.
Yet he would come to Florida when the northern roads got too cold to travel and work with his animals, costumes and acts. That’s when he began doing shows at the Florida State Fair in Tampa.
By then he also had a dog and monkey show and raced roosters and runner ducks.
But then there was a party. A biigggg…. Party.
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