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Saturday, July 28

Saturday morning got off to an early start as Bill Barr convened the annual business meeting at 8:30 a.m. In addition to the election of new officers, the major item of business at the meeting was the selection of the site for the 1980 Convention. Larry Olson presented an extremely well-prepared proposal for Fargo , North Dakota , which gives the center of the country a chance to have the convention out in their neck of the woods for a change.

After the meeting, the jugglers quickly loaded themselves into cars and buses and headed to town for the Amherst Town Festivtal, featuring the IJA jugglers as the key attraction. The opening event was the Juggler's Parade which began at the Amherst.Pelham Regional High School and marched into downtown Amherst , with all sorts of jugglers, unicyclists and clowns performing as they went. Music was provided from two flatbed trucks carrying a fourteen-piece circus band and a bluegrass group at opposite ends of the parade. Hometown jugglers Cy and Bounce from the Loco-Motion Circus were particularly spectacular on a huge old-fashioned bicycle and a crooked 8-foot giraffe respectively.

The parade route ended at the Amherst Town Common where the jugglers spent the afternoon performing, playing and teaching workshops for the public while a number of area musicians and theater groups performed on a stage in one corner of the common. The crowd on the common during the early afternoon was estimated at nearly 1500, and several members of the Amherst Downtown Council (who helped organize and sponsor the event) assured us that this was the largest crowd ever assembled in downtown Amherst. Also on the common in the afternoon was a film crew from the NBC Real People which spent the day filming several of the jugglers for their show which will air at some point during the fall season.

Saturday evening was devoted to the traditional public show which was held in the 1000 seat auditorium of the Amherst-Pelham Regional High School. The afternoon activities on the common, in conjunction with a good publicity campaign, really brought out the public and it was standing-room-only in the house. The show boasted a star-studded cast of hundreds, including performances by Garbo, Michael Kass, Bill Barr, Stuart Fell, Neon from Now-on and Doctor Hots (Bh. T.). Ed Jackman and Dan Rosen, the Wimbleton Brothers, Larry Vaksman, Lenny and La Banana, the Enthusiasts, Lynn Thomas, Geno the Clown, Mark Robertson and the Loco-Motion Circus. The last act in the show, in the IJA tradition, was the "Big Toss-Up" in which all of the jugglers in the audience were invited to juggle in what may have been the largest collection of jugglers ever to assemble on a stage. Mike Marlin, who also acted as, Master of Ceremonies, did an extremely professional job of organizing and producing the show, which was enthusiastically received by the overflow crowd. Linda Faulkingham, on behalf of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce, presented Mike with a huge bouquet of flowers to thank the jugglers for all of the spirit and excitement that they had brought to Amherst.

Sunday, July 29

Even after a full and hectic week of juggling, energy on Sunday remained high, and juggling continued throughout the day. The convention officially came to a close at midnight when we closed down the convention hall, but there were still a number of jugglers in evidence for the next several days. As always, no one really believed it could be over.

All in all, the process of organizing the convention and getting all the details arranged was a thoroughly wonderful and rewarding experience - it might even be fun to do if again after a few years. Best of luck to next year's chairman, Larry Olson and Bill Palladino;

if it's anything like this year, the many hours of work that go into planning and putting on the convention are more than compensated by the spirit and excitement of the event. Both in the planning stages before the convention and after the convention actually go underway, everything seemed to run very smoothly and, although there were certainly times that were extremely hectic and busy, there was always a strong sense that things were all falling into place. Much of this was due to the fact that we got so much help from a number of the dedicated people whose hard work and enthusiasm for the convention made our job that much more manageable.

We would like to express our special appreciation to the IJA and thank all of last year's officers for their continuing support throughout the year. We would also like to acknowledge the support and hard work of everyone at Hampshire College for providing such an ideal facility and extend special. thanks to John Cook and the staff of the Summer Programs office, to Jay Evans and company at the Robert Crown Center, to Rick Manning and the food service staff, to the students who ran the Bridge Cafe and to everyone else who helped out over the course

of the week. We are indebted to many people in Amherst who helped to make the convention such a success: Holly Greeley and the Greeley family, the Pioneer Valley Juggling Association, Linda Faulkingham, Suzy Cassidy and the Amherst Downtown Council. Finally, we would like to thank the jugglers for making it all so wonderful.

See you in Fargo!

They came from everywhere. 447 jugglers converged on Amherst that fateful week from all over the globe. 14 Canadians crossed the border to attend; 7 British citizens crossed the ocean. There was also one Australian and one West German, for a total of 23 non-Americans.

The top five states attendance-wise were: Massachusetts, 87; New York, 77; Pennsylvania, 30; Connecticut. 29 and New Jersey, 28. Right behind those close-by states came far-away California, with a strong 26 member delegation, followed by Ohio with 17, Maine with 16 and Georgia with 9. In all, residents of 37 states attended.