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Affiliate Report

by Deena Frooman, IJA Affiliates Director

It's time to start gearing up for World Juggling Day, which will be June 19 this year. We encourage affiliates and clubs to stage a special event of some kind on this day to help commemorate the 48th birthday of the International Jugglers Association.

Here are some ideas - contact your local rec department and offer juggling lessons; contact a local radio morning show and do a live broadcast; juggle at a wacky location and get media coverage; stage your own parade; have a picnic and invite the media. If you do something, let us know about it so that we can share the good news with others in the juggling community.

Another big affiliate event ahead is the postfestival camping trip being organized by Steve Gerdes of the Orange Jugglers. There's information about it in the festival info in this issue, but what isn't discussed there is the need for affiliates to contribute their energy to the big weekend. Involvement could be cooking meals, bringing coolers for the food and drinks and trucking gear to the campground. Talk it over with your group and make plans to attend and help!

We also remind you to give blood this year to help the IJA reach its community service goal of 1000 pints before Las Vegas. Donate and keep track of your total, then either report it when you arrive for the festival in Las Vegas, or write in your report before the festival. The program works on the honor system, and prizes will be awarded. Remember, its the best drop you'll ever make!

We welcome a new IJA affiliate this issue, the Quad Cities Jugglers of Illinois. Coordinator is Dusty Galbraith. We also owe an apology to the Jayhawk Jugglers, who were inadvertently left off of the affiliate list in the 1995 Roster. We've published our second "Clubs & Affiliates Newsletter" of the year, thanks to the good offices of Jerry Carson and Stuart Celarier. If your club meets regularly and you would like to regularly receive a copy of the newsletter, please contact me and let me know.

MONDO Proves to be the Most by Dave Linton

Well, the two days have come and gone, and I think I now have an appreciation of how Canadian Geese must feel about migrating a thousand miles to summer on the tundra. "Wow, that went fast. Did we do all that work for that?!?"

Actually MONDO was a huge success. More than 200 people attended the festival, on a very cold Saturday, February 11, in Minneapolis. Despite staying up late waiting for the Winnipeg contingent to arrive, many people were ready. to roll at 9 a.m. Several workshops were offered in unicycling, ball and club juggling, and passing. There was also a demonstration of shaker cup juggling by Jon Poppele and Dave Linton, who later performed in the public show.

The novice-level three-ball endurance was won by Adam Potvin who held on for 11:07. Scott Purser won the five-ball endurance in a solid 2:55, but was beat in the five-club endurance by Jon Poppele. Local favorite Lief Petterson had a strong opening run of seven balls in a best-ofthree contest, but was outdone by Conan Schwartz from Iowa, who made 43 catches on his second attempt. In numbers passing, Myron Paul and Robert Herndon had a solid run of 75 catches with eight clubs, but were edged by Jon Poppele and Peter Kaseman who successfully caught 10 passes with nine.

The unicyclists had a hockey game and, of course, there was combat. A television crew happened to be filming during the first combat game, and when the last two combatants were left, the drumming of clubs drowned out the reporter and shook the floor!

The organized activities ended at 5:30 with a raffle featuring donations from Infinite Illusions, Klutz, Todd Smith, Renegade, the IJA and Pegasus Games from Madison. The Madison Area Jugglers contributed a complimentary registration to next year's MadFest, which is always free, and a set of foil-wrapped clubs which were described as the "Reynold's Touch Stew Master Clubs."

On Sunday the festival moved to the University of Minnesota - St. Paul campus, where there was more juggling for the early risers from 9 a.m. to noon. The matinee public show, held in the 300-seat St. Paul Student Center theater, sold out and featured a wide variety of acts.

Jeff Casper of the Dew Drop Jugglers opened the show with a humorous piece set to the theme from "2001," followed by Jon Poppele, who presented a brand new diabolo routine that packed lots of tricks into two intense minutes.

Jon also appeared in the second act with Dave Linton, performing a synchronized shaker cup routine that included passing up to four cups at once. Jerry Martin, who acted as MC, also closed the first act with a choreographed piece using two balls and a ring to create unusual patterns.

The Twin Cities Unicycle Club presented an extraordinary group routine featuring up to 18 unicycles whirling through an array of maneuvers that kept the audience wondering how they didn't crash in a heap. Also featured were The Berts, a trio of physical comedians whose act included plate spinning and ring passing with head catches.

Finishing the show was headliner Craig Carlson, a University of Minnesota alumnus who performed some amazing feats of balancing and foot juggling. His acrobatics included a full handstand on a rola bola, and an alternating one-arm balance while building up the stack of blocks on which he was supporting himself.

The organizers hope that with this year's success they will gather even more support from the local community for next year's event.