Marlin Weaver will leave his home in Clearwater, Fla., later this week and make the seven-hour drive to Macon for the Georgia State Fair.

His first stop will be the Round Building at Central City Park.

"A little slice of me is in that building," he said.

The Round Building features an interior ring once used to train circus animals indoors. This "slice" of his life is a miniature replica circus on display in the center.

Weaver spent two years building it some 20 years ago. Until a few months ago, he had lost track of its whereabouts. But he had never forgotten about its existence.

OK, so what does the circus have to do with the Georgia State Fair? Well, when you think of the fair, which opens today for its 149th year, you think of Central City Park. And from 1908 to 1956, several of the major circus companies made the Macon park their winter headquarters.

They came to Macon because of its moderate climate and access to the railroad. Circus trailers camped out near the gazebo and caged animals were housed in the Long Building. Elephants and other wild animals were sheltered in the livestock buildings still used by the fair. The Round Building featured the ring used to train circus animals indoors - the 16 steps of a horse equalled the standard 42 feet.

Harold Carlisle, executive director of the fair, believes the circus replica will be an excellent way to educate fair patrons about the park's proud history. A number of circus companies, including King Brothers, Sun Brothers, Downie Brothers, Sparks and others all headquartered here during the winter months.

The tiny circus is a model of the 1928 Sparks circus, which boarded in Macon. The next year it was sold and eventually became part of Ringling Brothers.

It's all there: the big top, the menagerie, the sideshow, horse tents and cook house. There is even a depiction of the circus parades making their way down Cherry Street.

Carlisle had been searching for such a replica. Kip Dingler is a local float-builder whose parents, Red and Ann Dingler, once toured the country doing acrobatics and other circus performances. He told Carlisle he believed there was a miniature circus in Macon.

Carlisle eventually located it on the top shelf of a warehouse at Coleman Concessions on Fulton Street. Hugh Coleman, who died in February 2000, had contacted Weaver about building the replica in the mid-1980s.

Weaver said Coleman told him he wanted to display it. Also, Coleman's father, the late W.C. Coleman, had been a clown in the annual Shrine Circus. Carlisle contacted Hugh Coleman's widow, Nancy, who agreed to sell it.

Weaver built it in pieces. It took him two years to finish and is one of four complete circuses he has built in his lifetime (he is 75). He has been a circus model builder since he was 16 years old, living in Easton, Pa. He is also a circus historian.

"I'm glad it was found," Weaver said. "I had heard Mr. Coleman had died, but I didn't know what happened to it."

Carlisle wants to make the replica circus a permanent exhibit.

Not only has the fair come to town. In one sense, the circus has, too.