CONVENTION REPORT

 

by Eric Roberts & John Robinson

 

Monday, July 23

 

For many of the jugglers, the convention began a day early at Tom Dewarts' special "Pre"-pre-convention party, held at Tom's father's house on Dewart Road in Greenwich, Connecticut. There were some­where around thirty jugglers in attendance, and the afternoon and evening were spent swimming in the pool, joining in on a picnic supper and keg of beer, finding out what everyone's been doing since last year and warming up for the six days of juggling ahead.

 

Tuesday, July 24

 

The convention proper began on Tuesday as the jugglers began to arrive. Registration opened at two

in the afternoon: by evening, over 130 jugglers had registered and the convention was off and running. Most of the day was devoted to juggling, but many people managed to take some time off for the opening picnic or to make use of the pool and sauna.

 

Early last year, we arranged with Hampshire to keep the Crown Center open 24 hours a day during the convention, and the Tuesday night/Wed­nesday morning marathon juggling session proved the value of round-the-clock availability. Juggling was still going strong (with about 25 jugglers) at 3:00 a.m. After that time, people began to drift away, but were replaced by several new arrivals (John Luker, Barett Felker, a delegation from Canada and others) who figured (given that the juggling hall would be open all the time) that 4:00 a.m. was as reasonable an arrival

time as any,. Lynn Thomas (the last of seven British participants to arrive) rolled in to the Amherst bus station at 5:50 a.m. and was picked up by the night custodian who answered his call to the Robert Crown Center.

 

Wednesday, July 25

 

Wednesday was marked by many new arrivals and more juggling as the convention continued to pick up speed. IJA President Bill Barr and a number of other jugglers took part of the afternoon off to give the annual benefit show at the Bangs Senior Center in downtown Amherst. Bill Barr acted as master of ceremonies and "taught" one of the senior members of the audience (who gave his name as "John Henry") to juggle. Also featured in the benefit show were Robert York, Paul Bachman, Barrett Felker and Jon Held, Garbo, Lenny and La Banana, and Geno the Clown. The audience was a mixture of senior citizens and children brought in from camps in the Pioneer Valley area, and the show was a big success with young and old alike. Before the show, Amherst Selectman Diana Romer officially welcomed the IJA convention on behalf of the town of Amherst.

 

Thursday, July 26

 

By Thursday, the convention was pretty much in full swing with almost three hundred jugglers in evidence. At 9:00 a.m., the IJA officers held a short meeting of the exective board and discussed, among other topics, the site for the 1980 convention and the nomination of new officers, At 10:00 a.m., Fred "Garbo" Garver directed the Numbers Competition, the first of four events in the 1979 IJA Championships. At 2:00 p.m. the Junior Division Championships were held and the audience was treated to an impressive display of talent from a number of new jugglers. Details of the Championships are covered in the Championship Report elsewhere in this issue.

 

In the evening, it was time for movies, and most of the jugglers headed over to the main lecture hall for five hours of juggling films. In addition to such old favorites as W.C Fields in "The Great McGonicle" and a 1936 film of Bobby May on stage, this year's movies included a number of films of other jugglers from throughout the world. Karl­

Heinz Ziethen and Paul Bachman deserve special thanks for providing so many films and for contributing enlightened commentary on the performances. Thanks are also due to Kit Summers for running the projectors in the face of technical difficulties beyond the call of duty.

 

Friday, July 27

 

Most of daytime hours of Friday were taken up with the remaining two Championship events: the Senior Division and the Team Championships. Both events elicited a tremedous response from a highly enthusiastic audience; when the Wimbleton Brothers performed their eight tennis racket routine which won them first place in the Team event, the crowd went wild (as crowds are known to do).