BY DUSTY GALBRAITH

 

The Quad Cities Juggling Club gave, or actually stole, our first festival on November 11-12 in Bettendorf, Iowa. We "gave" it in the sense that everything was free-registration, workshops, show and party. We "stole" it in the sense that we used every idea that wasn't nailed down.

 

We pilfered a cartoon turkey from the "B.C" comic strip, cloned him on the computer and had two of them passing drumsticks as our festival logo. We embezzled a joke from "The Far Side" shirts and pictured the turkey eating a drumstick on the hem of the festival T-shirts.

 

We lifted everything thing else from the Up For Grabs affiliate in Aurora, Ill. We used their ideas for a free raffle during the day and the double-dip raffle at the party. Up for Grabs members Todd Claxton and Steve Rahn even helped us steal from them before the fest by answering hundreds of our questions about things like scheduling, and shirt quantities and sizes. We even snatched some free advice from Omaha, Neb., thanks to Jek Kelly and Renee' Crosby. They supplied our motto - "Don't close your eyes, plagiarize!"

 

In the warm afterglow of the weekend we think we can prove that crime does pay! We had more than 120 registered jugglers, 200­plus people came to the free show on Saturday, nearly 100 locals took the beginner workshops, and an estimated 300 locals stopped in to watch the fun. T-shirt sales, the paid raffle and hat donations more than covered festival expenses.

 

Despite an record early snow and ice storm and a competing festival in Indiana, jugglers began pouring in long before the official opening time. The stage area became headquarters for families. Like an old James Taylor song, the stage was full of "your baby, your blanket, and your bucket of beer." Mike Vondruska from the Illinois Juggling Institute, Dan Kirk from the Midwest Juggling Company, and Michael Ferguson from Fergie Props were selling props, and a used prop table moved old equipment and new money around the gym.

 

Workshops and contests, like most of life, were created as we went along. Tim Gode did an outstanding job teaching beginners. Jek Kelly and Todd Claxton presented three ball tricks, which helped lure jugglers out of the gym for a few minutes. Jon Poppele and Steve Birmingham shared diabolo and advanced club passing. Jon and Steve dominated the passing competitions, and Mike Price did the same in the individual contests. The names of other winners have been lost in the shuffle.

 

The centerpiece of the festival was the public show, "The Breadth of Juggling." P.T. Flamdazzle (a.k.a. Gerry Martin) acted as emcee, performed magic and passed clubs. Jek Kelly proved himself the master of the devil stick. Paul Bachman bounced silicones, golf balls, and old jokes around the stage. Jon Poppele amazed the audience with single and multiple diabolo. Mike Vondruska juggled everything, up to and including a kid from the audience. The Twin Cities Unicycle Team showed the artistry possible on one wheel and a small stage. Dan Kirk performed amazing feats with cigar boxes, and Elliot Cutler demonstrated his famous Kirkhill plunger. The performance closed with Mike Price showing what a combination of youth and talent can do.

 

In all, it was a great weekend thanks to all the help we had and thanks to all the people who showed up in the snow. We will be back next year (tentative dates November 8-10). We will have a much bigger gym. And, we will have fun - again! See you there.