45-3,p20

A Week in Wonderland

BY BILL GIDUZ, EDITOR

They came from near and far, from Moorhead and Moosejaw, New Jersey and

New Zealand, 650 of them entering the Fargo Civic Center to be swept up in the vortex from which no one escapes unjuggled. They came, and were happy to find a city above water in a land of floods, where the toilets did flush, despite what CNN was reporting!

Festival host Larry Olson presided at an opening day press conference during which Mayor Jim Lingrin declared this to be "Juggling Week" in Fargo.

Yes, the city was definitely juggler-friendly. Elliot Cutler and friends, while passing by a clothing store, stopped to look at a mannequin in the window as they dreamed up a prospective Club Renegade routine. The store's owner invited them inside and let them leave with the mannequin!

Further evidence was the creation of tent city on the Civic Center lawn. Several festival-goers arrived with camping gear, expecting to find the free camping advertised in the festival flier. However, the swollen Red River had washed it out. Tricia Allen and Bill Richie asked the Civic Center management if they could pitch their tent on the front lawn. The manager gave a quick call to the mayor and police chief, both of whom gave their consent, and said, "Sure!" Eventually almost two-dozen tents were pitched on the lawn.

No one was far from food. A well-stocked snack bar in the Civic Center stayed busy, as did a pizza salesman who set up shop nearby. The pizza guy learned to juggle during the week, but the vendors in the snack bar stayed safely behind their counter. Though the dorms and university food service were a couple of miles from the Civic Center, North Dakota State food service brought a catered lunch to the jugglers every day for their convenience.

Former Education Award winner Mike Vondruska again organized a full slate of workshops for conventioneers, ranging from three balls to plate spinning, which was advertised with - "Learn cool plate moves to chill out with china!"

The only unfriendly beings in Fargo were the mosquitos. The ugly rumor was that Myron "I Gave 16 Gallons" Wilcox was offering commissions to the little nasties for helping him in his never-ending blood drive!

But inside the cavernous Fargo Civic Center, it was props flying rather than insects. Every square foot was a classroom where individuals practiced and passed on their art.

The variety of manipulated objects ranged far beyond traditional juggling props to spinning tops, yo-yos, shaker cups, six-shooters, whips, lariats, ribbons, tennis ball cans and even propane torches! About three dozen workshops were available for formal instruction, but most learning took place in the old teacher-and-student-on-a-log fashion, with curious individuals and enthusiastic practitioners picking each other out of the crowd for constant interchange.

The festive, friendly atmosphere grew on Wednesday, when club cascades celebrated the wedding of Steve Salberg and Jennifer Lynn Aaronson. The procession was led by Laura Green twirling Chinese silks, six-year-old Michelle Mills riding in on her unicycle to scatter flower petals and Steve Howard bearing the "rings." The couple said their vows and passed rings, then exited through an arch of eight club passers, with Dale Oliver and Paul Kyprie each flourishing two yo-yos.

The annual IJA auction netted $1,200 for the sponsoring organization, as bargain and souvenir hunters bid on props, books, tshirts and merchandise. The top item was three of Waldo's top hats, which went for $150. Second to that was $77 paid for three Thermo-Juggle selflighting torches.

Even the usual post competitions tension failed to materialize as the Seniors judges awarded the IJA's first ever Kapell system gold medal to Fritz Grobe, an unassuming, expressive master of the diabolo. Benji Hill and Chuck Gunter didn't reach their avowed goal of gold in the Teams Championships because of several drops, but showed remarkable precision and innovation in their club and ring work to score a silver medal. Grobe's close friend Jay Gilligan proved in the Juniors that persistence pays, winning with an energetic, nearly flawless routine on his fifth attempt at that competition. Another frequent competitor, David Cain, won the new Intermediate competition. New benchmarks were set in several new Numbers Championships categories, but no records fell in existing categories in either numbers or joggling.

A continuing good-natured competition pitted various juggling clubs against each other to see which one could boast the most members in attendance. The Omaha club claimed the title for a day, but was blasted the next day by Minnesota Neverthriving, which turned in a roster of 32 documented names of members in the gym. It ended there.

With competitions out of the way, Saturday provided an exciting, relaxing culmination to the week's activities. Guest star Gregory Popovich was issued a white stretch limousine by the City of Fargo and was proclaimed Grand Marshall of the North Dakota state games parade. He and his wife, Izolda, climbed in and led floats, horses, bands and jugglers through streets lined with fans. Gregory then paid his IJA friends back for the Award of Excellence he received with a clever comedy act and stellar performance on the free-standing ladder in that evening's Cascade of Stars public show. He also revealed that he has another act which stars house cats, saying, "Some people like cats more than juggling, that's life in America!" But he saved that one for another day!

As usual, the show provided the best talent showcase of the week. Producer Dan Holzman recruited a roster of artists for a show that Fargo has probably not seen the likes of since the end of Vaudeville. The IJA Last-Minute All Star Band, led by Bruce Plott, kicked off the merriment long before the curtain rose with a medley of good-time tunes, and the audience entertained themselves with balloon games.