FREEDOM FESTIVAL AT PROVO TO FEATURE AERIAL PERFORMERS

Alan Osmond is bringing the circus to his Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza this year, but instead of using a canvas big top, his big top is the sky.

The annual event, to be staged at Brigham Young University's Cougar Stadium, is one of the showpieces of America's Freedom Festival at Provo. The festivities include more than two dozen different events that began June 15 and continue through July 4.Osmond said the circus is the result of an ongoing effort to bring people something different each year.

Bill Critchfield, Osmond's assistant, said this year's show "will be more of a family-oriented, thrill-filled circus than a musical concert."

Performers will include the Winn Troupe and Nockair - two families whose aerial feats have roots reaching back to the 19th century. They will highlight a show filled with circus images created both on the playing field and in fireworks displays.

Osmond said he's wanted to produce a July 4th circus "for a long time, but it's taken quite a few years of coordinating. It's difficult to get acts the caliber of the Winns and the Nocks to agree to do a one-day show on the Fourth of July. They usually work places a week at at time."

Celebrities to be featured at the show include Willard Scott of NBC's Today Show, as circus ringmaster; Keshia Knight Pulliam, of The Cosby Show; and The Jets, a rock group.

A ground show will also feature clowns, mimes and jugglers, fireworks sets of circus animals and other big top specialties, and fireworks that come in on parachutes.

Tickets are available at the Marriott Center Ticket Office, BYU, and all Smith'sTix outlets. Sponsors include AT&T, Coca-Cola, Fred Meyer, KSL-TV and KSL Radio.