Kelly Lafferty Gerber | Kokomo Tribune PERU, Ind. â When the Peru Amateur Circus made the decision to call off all its performances last year due to COVID, circus officials knew it would be a painful blow to the nonprofitâs finances. But John Kirk, who serves on the board of the Peru Circus City Festival, said no one knew how big of a blow it was until a couple months ago, when circus officials started crunching numbers. âWithout the revenue of ticket sales from last year, and the potential impact COVID will have this year, we find ourselves in a tough position,â he wrote in a Facebook post. âWe are facing a very real possibility of having to close our doors permanently.â