As always, the devil stick workshop by Jeff Peden and Jim Neff was a crowd pleaser. Charley Peachock and Jack Kalvan did an extensive three club workshop featuring placerolls and pirouettes. An impromptu balloon workshop by Larry Moss drew a huge crowd. Throughout the day Rochester club members taught many adults and approximately 60-80 children how to juggle.

 

While all this activity was happening, the RIT women's tennis team provided refreshments to hungry and thirsty jugglers.

 

In late afternoon, the fun competitions were held. The blindfolded juggling was won by Will Stafford from Vestal, N.Y., with a time of 2:04. The funniest trick of the festival was won by Jim Neff from Buffalo with his snot from the nose (fake, of course) and devil stick operated from one hands tick in the mouth routine. Other competitors included Greg Fee laying on a bed of balloons without breaking them, Christine Stephano juggling an egg, tomato, apple and salt shaker, and Tad Hunt and Chris Meaker juggling recycling bins.

 

The five ball endurance competition was won by Steve Holditch from Ontario, Canada, in 5:33. At the five-minute mark only Steve and Charley Peachock remained. They decided to switch to reverse cascade at that point and went another 33 seconds before Charley dropped.

 

The best technical trick of the convention was won by Steve Holditch with a five ball Mills Mess. A close second in this competition was Jack Kalvan, who balanced a club on his head while juggling three, then dropped the club behind his back to a heel kick back over his shoulder into a four club pattern.

 

There were three entrants in the open stage competition-Christine Stephano, Mark Peachock and Charley Peachock. Charley won the event with an impressive routine featuring five balls overhead, seven balls, five club back­crosses, a three club kickup and a tremendous flurry of Albert and trebla throws to finish. The amazed Juggle-In audience went wild.

 

Other highlights of the afternoon include Fred Strempel and Fran Favorini doing a synchronous ball bounce chase with 10 balls, and a 13 ball bounce between them. Ram Prasad and Bret Goldstein also did a 14 ball bounce box and attempted 18. Bill Dietrich was there, juggling away for the 18th straight year. There was also another raffle featuring generous donations of props from Brian Dube, Todd Smith, Renegade, Juggle Bug and the lJA.

 

Saturday concluded with an evening show   featuring Clockwork (Jack Kalvan and Rick Rubenstein) from Los Angeles. Highlights included their classic flower pot routine, their five large ball partner work to the music of Funkytown and a very slick technical club passing routine. Jack also performed a five ball start using a small springboard to propel the five balls into the air. Polished! Fantastic! Very Entertaining! were all frequent comments.

 

Thanks go out to Jack and Rick for their outstanding performance, their leadership in the workshops and their willingness to entertain a crowd of jugglers.

 

It was a great 18th Spring Juggle­In.Our goal each year is for every person, novice or professional, to learn as much as they can about juggling in one day and take home at least one new trick.

 

If you are thinking about running a festival, remember that it takes a lot of work by a lot of people. You probably won't juggle a lot yourself during the festival, but people are appreciative of what you do.

 

This year when things were hectic and I was feeling sorry for myself I said something stupid to one of the participants. He was thanking me and I commented, "Boy, it's a lot of hard work, it makes you wonder if it is worth it..." He responded, "Are you kidding me? Check out that happy face on my daughter. If it wasn't for your effort that wouldn't be happening."

 

That response soothed my tired body and made me clearly realize why the RIT Spring Juggle-In tradition goes on.