Do Portugal Circus Brings 5-Generation Family Big Top to Belen Fairgrounds

Three motorcyclists circling inside a steel sphere, a human launched from a cannon, and acrobats from Ethiopia performing on the fairgrounds floor: Do Portugal Circus has brought its 115-year family legacy to Belen and continues through April 5 at the Valencia County Fairgrounds, with tickets starting at $15.

The Globe of Death and the Human Cannonball anchor a lineup that also includes aerialists, jugglers, clowns, and dancers, along with Ethiopia's Hand Voltage group, whose acrobatics have drawn strong audience reactions on the current U.S. tour. The circus builds its show entirely around human talent and does not perform with animals. Leading each performance is ringmaster Jodie Leith, who joined the troupe as a dancer and has spent four years at the center of the ring.

The Portugal family's circus lineage runs 115 years deep. The family began performing across Mexico in 1911 and launched its first tented production in 1950 under the name Circus America along Mexico's Pacific Coast. A rebrand to Circus Dina followed in the 1980s, and the company took its current name in 1993. After touring Mexico for decades, Do Portugal crossed an international border for the first time in December 2014, debuting in El Salvador before expanding through Central America, including Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The U.S. debut came in 2019, and by 2021 the company was running two simultaneous touring tents, one in the United States and one in Mexico.

The circus now visits nearly 20 American cities per year, stopping in major markets like Philadelphia and Boston as well as smaller venues like the Valencia County Fairgrounds. The company describes its approach as bringing entertainment to both major cities and small towns, making the Belen engagement a deliberate stop rather than a detour.

Tickets start at $15 and are available through the circus's Belen event listing. Children under two are admitted free with lap seating; a ticket must be purchased if a separate seat is needed. Seating tiers include VIP, which offers front-row, front-view cushioned seats, and Platinum, which provides a side-view front-row experience. The Valencia County Fairgrounds is located at 14 I-25 Bypass in Belen and can be reached at 505-803-7373. Updated showtimes are posted on the circus's Instagram account, @doportugalcircusofficial.

The Belen run fills a traditionally quiet stretch of the fairgrounds calendar before summer programming ramps up. The annual Valencia County Fair, an eight-day event held each August featuring livestock shows, a chili cookoff, and exhibits, draws the region's agricultural community and thousands of visitors to the same grounds. The fairgrounds, which also include two rodeo areas and the Sheriff's Posse restaurant and dance hall, has served as Valencia County's primary multi-day event anchor for years. A fifth-generation circus on a 20-city American tour fits squarely into that role.