On her 16th birthday, Monique Osorio climbs into a box. Her uncle Robert Osorio slides 10 swords through the box, from the top to the bottom. He opens the box up, and Monique is gone. He closes it again, takes the swords out, and opens it once more. There is Monique, whole and unscathed.

This is the Temple of Beanners, one of the attractions at American Crown Circus. The circus came to Clackamas Town Center, on the east side of the parking lot by the MAX light-rail stop. This is the first-ever stop in Clackamas County for the circus, which comes through Oregon every two years.

The circus has a tradition over a century long, noted Robert Osorio, the magician and general manager. In Mexico in “1880 or 1870,” he said, his great-grandfather ran off three times with the trapeze girl from a local circus, each time being caught by his parents and brought back. Finally, after serving time in Mexico’s military to keep his parents happy, he joined the circus for good.

Circuses have been in the Osorio family since then, said Osorio. His own father founded American Crown, the family’s first circus in the U.S., 16 years ago, as an expansion of the circuses run by his two brothers in Apatzingán, Mexico, and Campeche, Mexico. The family still reunites every Christmas.

American Crown, based in Nevada, features Osorio’s magic; the clowns Pinky and Blinky; Gizell, an Argentinian trapeze artist; Oleg a Russian performer who uses nylon straps to go “up like Spiderman”; Marlene the juggler; and Chelsea, who performs acrobatics on a “Spanish Web.”

Shows were 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. every day, with one additional show Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Adults paid $16 for the 1.5-hour show, and each adult got two free children’s tickets. The circus began shows on Friday, July 13, and it ran until Monday, July 16.