Inheriting the family business is no easy task when your last name is Wallenda.

But for Carla Wallenda, 55, climbing a 110-foot pole and swinging in the sky is just part of making a living as a seventh-generation circus performer.

Her father, Karl, appeared to fly through the air when he was considered master of the high wire. Her mother, Helen, now 80 and retired in Sarasota, was admired for her agility.

The entire family toured as the Great Wallendas with the Ringling Bros. Circus for 17 years. Carla Wallenda was born into the business and raised on the road.

“I literally grew up on the wire. My parents carried me across when I was six weeks old and I started performing on my own at age 3,” she said. “It’s a family tradition.”

The Wallenda high-wire act performs at the five-day Florida Heritage Festival, which opens today at 5 p.m. at the South Florida Fairgrounds, on Southern Boulevard, west of West Palm Beach. The Wallendas take to the air Wednesday through Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. with a 2:30 p.m. show Saturday and Sunday.

The 17-year-old Heritage Festival started as a craft show and has grown into a full-fledged festival with midway rides, puppet and magic shows, nightly top pop musicians and specialty acts.

Admission is free for those who bring a can of food for the Food for Families drive from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. today.

Wallenda brings a 30-minute high-wire act featuring herself, her husband, Mike Morgan; her granddaughter, Nova, 4; and five trained poodles.

Carla swings 25 feet in every direction on the 110-foot pole, hangs upside down on one foot and stands on her head. Everyone watches intently when she begins her barefoot climb and starts to wave in the breeze. She does not use a net.

She said she never considered any other vocation. “I would imitate my mother’s moves as far back I can remember.”

She said she often played circus. Hers was more realistic than most. “I’d get a couple of kids in the neighborhood who I would teach how to clown. I had a trapeze hanging from the tree and I sold tickets for a nickel.”

She said she is never afraid to perform despite the tragic accident in 1962 in Detroit that took the lives of her brother-in-law and a cousin and left her brother paralyzed. The act was a seven-person pyramid that collapsed.

Apparently that lack of fear is another family tradition.

Her four grown children are all in show business, traveling around the country at circuses and festivals. She has seven grandchildren, ages 7 years to seven months, who are also involved in the acts.

“I used to joke with my father that my having four children kept him supplied with wire walkers,” Wallenda said.

FLORIDA HERITAGE FESTIVAL ’91

–DATES: Today through Sunday

–HOURS: From 5 p.m. to midnight, Wednesday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday.

–TICKETS: $6 advance, $7.50 day of show. Seniors and children 12 and younger admitted free. Call the South Florida Fairgrounds at 839-3900 or TicketMaster at 305-523-3309.

These bands will perform in the Fairgrounds Special Events Center:

Wednesday:

8 p.m. Eddie Money

6-10 p.m. Dillingers

Thursday:

8 p.m. George Thorogood and the Destroyers

6-10 p.m. The Shivers

Friday:

8 p.m. 38 Special

6-10 p.m. Sheffield Brothers

Saturday:

8 p.m. Doobie Brothers

2-7:45 p.m. Alibi

Sunday:

8 p.m. Foreigner

2-7 p.m. Lite ‘N’ Up