Circus Smirkus, a Vermont-based youth circus, added to the festivities by pitching its tents beside the field house and doing three days of shows. It also served as the site for the IJA's Welcome Party. To begin things officially, Burlington Mayor Peter C. Brownell recited the official welcome from the city, then turned over the microphone to the Dr. Jazz Dixie Hot Shot Band. While most people reached for sudsy refreshments, 11-year-old David Kelly stepped into the ring and began juggling. David wasn't going to miss a moment's opportunity, because he had worked harder than most to earn it.

 

According to his mother, Lisa Pender, David used to be her "shy child." He only learned juggling at his school in Eugene, Oregon, last October. He was immediately enthralled, and began juggling with the Eugene club. He attended the Portland juggling fest in April and found out about the IJA fest. He asked his mom if they could come to Burlington, but with limited family resources she had to reply, "No way." The determined youngster shot back at her, "Well, what if I earn the money?" He began busking regularly at the Oregon Country Fair and earned more than $800 in four months. Mom's objections melted before the steady flow of cash, and they made the trip on his hat takes. But there's more to it for young David than making money. Mom reported, "After he comes back from performing he doesn't talk about how much money he's made. He talks about how he made people happy."

 

The 26 young Circus Smirkus performers stayed in the gym most of the time when they weren't in the ring entertaining the public and IJAers, and two of their Russian exchange performers competed in the Juniors Championships. There was plenty of juggling in the Circus Smirkus show, also, including a zany six-minute Vaudeville-style dozen-person restaurant scene, young Sam Johnson doing four clubs and four rings on a slack wire, and Artyom Homanko juggling spoons on top of multiple rola bolas.

 

Toby Ayer, a six-season veteran of the troupe serving this year as "assistant adult" to directors Rob Mermin and Stuart Lippe, also did a seven-ball cascade in the restaurant scene, as well as an ethereal juggling and acrobatics routine later with a a Russian youngster named Anastassia Tarasova that he based on a Picasso painting, "Young Girl on a Ball."

 

Another Smirkus alumnus at the festival was 18-year-old Ben Tolpin, who toured with the 1990 show at age 14 and remembered it as "the best time of my life." During the 60-show season, he juggled on Toby's broad shoulders as another couple passed seven clubs around them, and got to work out with Katya Ignatov, daughter of the great one. Tolpin came to Burlington from performances at Clementon Music Park in New Jersey, where he did a comedy juggling act with partner Jan Brotman.

 

One evening late-nighters were treated to a quartet of jugglers circled up working on 10 balls. At least five people at the festival could legitimately do that-Morton Hansen, Alan Morgan, Bruce Sarafian, Dan Bennett and Bruce Tiemann.

 

The midnight kickoff time for Club Renegade and lively post-show scene in the gym made zombies of almost everyone by the end of the festival. The one person who tried to catch every minute of action was the IJA's new one-person video crew, Alan Plotkin. Plotkin said he didn't miss a thing all week, and promised one-month delivery of a fast­paced production akin to the 15 other festival videos he has produced for groups such as the Hawaiian Vaudeville Fest, Edmonton Street Performers Festival and Calgary Childrens Festival.

 

Plotkin traces his juggling lineage back to 1979, when, he said, "the IJA came to my hometown, Amherst." Moreover, he learned to juggle that year from his cousin, who learned from his roomate, Allan Jacobs. Plotkin, a full-time video producer from Austin, Tex., has never been much of a performer himself, but proudly confessed to making a mess of an egg juggling routine on a cruise ship on his honeymoon!

 

Jugglers sailed through registration lines in record time this year, due mostly to the experienced staff awaiting them there. Some members of the Minnesota Neverthriving and Winnipeg juggling clubs, like Myron Paul and Jerry Martin, were serving their fourth year behind the desk and had the answer to almost every question. The IJA board team of Norman Schneiderman, Richard Dingman and festival coordinator Ginny Rose kept in touch with walkie-talkies to smooth out the few logistical logjams that did occur.

 

Coveted festival souvenirs included logo hats given to all volunteers who worked registration or security, a first -ever metal festi­val pin, and the new IJA Mickey & Goofy juggling tie (which was a complete sell-out). But a few lucky friends of Roy and Margaret Ann Melanson brought home pieces of "Jugglers" bubble gum that the California couple found in a San Bernadino candy store. The gum didn't appear to increase manipulation skills to any degree, but perhaps gained its name because the three available shapes looked vaguely like a ball, stick and spinning plate.

 

First-timers included Michiel Hesseling, half of the worldwide performance team, The Flying Dutchmen. He and his partner of five years, Jean-Michel Pare, had most of the summer off after an appearance at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Hesseling, an expert technical juggler, was in Burlington for a vacation and not to compete, but did end up winning a spontaneous volleyclub tournament, the first ever at an IJA festival. Among several other first-time European jugglers were Greg Kiock from Munich, who had a chance to demonstrate some unique three ball and club tricks, and Swiss juggler Monica Tobler, who was just there for fun.