Dan Looker, a young man from New England, is an extraordinary circus arts student from the school in Montreal. He worked with an unsupported ladder with foot pads which allow him to climb all the way to the top. He and Michael James are the only two acts I'm aware of who can do this on the street. Looker also does a free­standing headstand, hand balancing maneuvers, arm levers, diabolo (particularly nice), hat tricks and even juggling for a moment.

The Flaming Idiots from Texas are a three-man troupe who specialize in the longhair style of group juggling. Resplendent with psychedelic innuendo, polished club passing routines and boundless energy, these guys have a solid act. Jeanne Wall, a woman who has been in various street acts for more than 10 years, was soloing. Unicycle, clubs and a dash of acrobatics were the basis of her presentation. Street performing has kept her young and attractive. Robert Nelson was there as the Butterfly Man. He received great notices in the local press for his act. For those of you who don't know much about his show, I would sum it up as, "an entertainer who is transcendently abusive to his audience while presenting average juggling skills."

Izzy Tooinski is a California-based juggler who wraps a strange little Armenian character around ample juggling skills. Primarily a storytelling style juggler, Izzy can deliver the juggling goods. He has a four club routine that is filled with variations that require much practice to maintain.

Dave Walley from Winnipeg is a three ball juggling fanatic. The man knows of more three ball patterns than most people. Walley led the juggling workshops and is a great enthusiast of juggling. Bob Palmer and James O'Shea of Flying Debris from Saskatoon have a wide assortment of skills. I especially appreciated their style and humor.

Tash Wesp was there as Mildred, a circus arts act wrapped in a strange character.  Wesp has a superb ball spinning routine, solid acrobatic skills and a rare interest in being a female solo street performer. The Two Marks from England were terrific. They claim to hate juggling, but none­the-less they put on a wacko comedy act based on clubs, fire-eating, stilt dancing and flute playing. The Juggling Fool is a local legend, juggler and wonderful person. He pushes an en tire shopping cart filled with juggling gear, and is a wondrous improviser, day­glow costume fanatic and kindred spirit to the buskers. It isn't what he does so much as what he is!

Summerfest includes an area set aside where the public can take $1 juggling lessons. Red the Juggler Flying Debris. out of Vancouver coordinated it two years ago, and Dave Walley from Winnipeg did it in 1989. Most featured performers spend some time in the informal school helping their fans get started on the road to a per­formance career of their own.

Presenting different kinds of acts is important at Edmonton. People coming to see the street acts usually linger and wander from one show to another. Blending all this into divine chaos is Finkle's great talent.

In addition to having each act perform two sets each day during the ten­day festival, there are a number of special shows. The specials provide the cast opportunities to create, improvise, write, direct, produce and perform. They are well attended by audiences of more than 2,000 people. Every effort is made to not just produce new material, but to capture the spirit and charm that distinguishes the street performer from other variety acts.

Every day is marked with some special event. To pick those few bright moments in the festival and say that they were the best moments is impossible. To compound the picture even more, there were a number of things that all of us would much rather forget!

Nobody cares to remember the climax to the vaudeville show, when a thunderstorm drenched the audio mixer just as AI Simmons was taking the stage (under a tent) to close the show. To have the

closing act, and one so well known in Canada, wiped out, was not easy to take.

Summerfest is a unique opportunity, though it isn't a big­bucks kind of experience. Rather, it is a festival designed to provide opportunities, a festival that structures a positive attitude into its scheme. You spend 10 days with 30 acts doing things you always dreamed about! And while it doesn't guarantee the results, it does nurture the process better than any other festival I know.

(Dana Smith is a San Francisco street performer who is well known for having performed with his dog, Sunshine. He performed at the Edmonton Summerfest in 1987 and 1989 and has been an IJA member since 1985.)