The building was the first-of-its-kind indoor circus arena when it became the winter home for the Greatest Show on Earth in 1962. It was last occupied in 1996 as a boxing arena.

The Save the Venice Arena group held its first meeting on March 8. Orlando Bevington, Bob Byler, Tito Gaona Jr., James Hagler, Dick and Julia Hyman, Earl Midlam, David Sherman, Perkins and Gaona, and Bill Vanderstine attended the first meeting. Council members Emilio Carlesimo and Ernie Zavodnyik sat in as well.

The group hopes to present a restoration project to city council next month.

The first order of business is to ask the city for permission to use volunteers to clean up the lot and paint the 60-foot-diameter round building where Gunther Gebel-Williams trained his big cats. Gaona has leased the building since 2000 for his aerial school.

"We've been working with Tito for the last year trying to put together a group viable enough to do that kind of project and create a business plan to restore the building and make it self sustaining. I think we may have the right combination of people."

"This is a big white elephant that is falling apart. We feel like we can get the community behind us, not only on the local level but internationally. It has historical value. It was the first of its kind. Our population loves the circus. That's what they grew up with. We think they will want to preserve that for their grandkids."

"I have been struggling for 10 years," Gaona said. "I feel more secure about it now that Orlando and others have come onboard.

"My daughter is sixth generation. The arena was my home for my youth, so it means so much to me. There is a lot of circus history in that building."

Bevington said it could take up to $10 million to properly restore the facility. So far the assumption is the steel skeleton of the building, transferred from Sarasota when it moved its winter home to Venice, is still in good shape. The group plans to have architects and engineers take a closer look.

"We have seen several reports (about the) superstructure. We have to conduct an engineering study to make sure everything is repairable," Bevington said.

They've been in contact with at least three local circus groups that expressed interest in using the facility. Other ideas are to modernize the space as a convention hall, setting aside a portion for a circus museum and using the remaining space for community events, like auto or garden shows and concerts. Gaona envisions pulling in a 1940s airplane and having a Glenn Miller evening for area residents that includes dining and dancing.

As a fundraiser, Bevington wants to restore the flying bleacher system that is still in place. Individual chairs on platforms that "float up" and open the space below are unique, he said. He wants to ask citizens to pay the restoration of each chair and receive a plaque on the back of that chair.

Gaona is hoping he and Perkins can attract celebrity performers to boost attendance at fundraisers.

"We don't know if this is feasible," Bevington said. "Let us do our fundraising, and all the necessary steps. If we bring this back to life, the city would benefit from the additional jobs."

"They are well motivated and have an uphill battle as far as money goes," Carlesimo said. "What got my attention is they claim to have volunteers who want to maintain the building and paint it. What have we got to lose if we can make it presentable? People are tired of looking at it" in its current shape.