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[the Earl of Whirl]

This kind of snuck up on me.  Does anyone else know about this big juggling festival to be held in the northeastern part of Indiana?  It looks like about 2 1/2 to 3 hours from me.  Things are fairly calm here so I think I could go up for at least one day, maybe two.  Rick, are you going?  How about Owen and Lynn?  I can load my car up with some top goodies and try to meet some more top spinners..............or maybe teach some people!!!

I know, I know.  Officially this should be in the NSTR section as there is (as of yet) no top involvement.  But there can be!  There will be!!  Please, Mr. ta0, do not relegate this to that other section as of yet!!!  Give me a couple days to prove myself.

https://www.juggle.org/festival/

[lincolnrick]

I'm not going to make IJA this year. As close as it is, it's still quite a drive from Lincoln. Just saw Lynn and Owen at our Flatland festival about 2 weeks ago. I don't remember if they said if they were going or not.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Rats!!!  That moves this discussion one step closer to NSTR.  Maybe there is still hope?  I wonder about Mark Hayward?

[johnm]

Ted Baumhauer from the Rochester area's Flower City Vaudeville fame is on his way.  He has stopped in Piqua, Ohio to visit his brother and was at UC this morning to pick up two new HDPE tops.  I mentioned all the names posted so far plus Jim Neff, as Indiana seems to be within his driving radius.  I noted that Mike Hout  had been to RIT and they may have met and although he hadn't posted on the forum about IJA, Mike is the type of guy to wake up and recognize that he should be somewhere else spinning things and gets himself there.

Have fun!

[the Earl of Whirl]

Oh!!!  Ted Baumhauer!  He sounds like a great guy and has lots of credentials.  Glad to have him visit UC and johnm.  I will look for him in the Fort Wayne convention center.  Here is some information I found on him.....

https://www.tedbaumhauer.net/bio.php

[mailman]

Ted is a great guy, and a fellow member of the Rochester Juggling Club..  I have known him for years.  Recently I have been helping him with his top spinning, which he wants to incorporate into his act.

If any of you should run into him this week at IJA, tell him I said, "Hi!"....

[the Earl of Whirl]

I will look for him.  He must really be getting into top spinning if he stopped by to see johnm!!!  Good work mailman.

My wife found me an airbnb near the Fort Wayne Convention center for 40 dollars a night.  Looks like I might be staying up there Monday and Tuesday evening.

[the Earl of Whirl]

I have arrived after a leisurely trip up the eastern edge of Indiana.  Lots of cool sights and old time buggies but no tops.  The convention center in Ft. Wayne is spacious but the hallways remind me of Iceland.  No carpet out there but the juggling room is totally carpeted.  It is a good space.  Lots of vendors are here but none have tops EXCEPT sportjuggling.co  They have three Imperials!!!

[the Earl of Whirl]

Yippee!!!  Lynn and Owen are here.  Life has suddenly gotten a lot better.  I am having such a good time that I didn't eat any supper, which I am sure is disappointing to JNeff who always makes a comment about me being a good eater.  Actually, LarryD and Don Olney also seem humored about me and big salads.  And I often talk about Chipotle.  So, I guess there might be a certain theme here.

Owen and Lynn are making great progress with the top regeneration.  Their motion looks good and I think they are going to keep making great strides.  It is 10:30 and the place has thinned out but there are still a hundred or so people here.  It is amazing!!!  Owen said he met a guy who knew John Marcus and had some of his tops.  I showed him a picture of Ted Baumhauer and he thought it might be him.  He took a picture of him and will do some investigative work.

There are three 24 inch beach balls with handles that look like cut off plastic horns (vuvuzelas) taped to them.  They are really hard to juggle.  I gave them a shot but did not get too far.  Owen passed clubs with me except the clubs were large plastic bats.  That was fun trying to hang on while he showed me the ropes.  I think I better get some sleep....and maybe some food!

[the Earl of Whirl]

As I walked out last night I saw Piqua Rick and chatted with him.  I have not seen him since he was down at Miamisburg last August.  He is such an amazing ball spinner.  I introduced myself to the man next to him and he said "Hello, I am Ted Baumhauer."  He seemed surprised that people knew about his new tops already.  Good tip, johnm.

I walked around the downtown before midnight.  Lots of fascinating buildings.  It looks like there is a great revitalization here and the place is ready to take off.  The gates of the nice baseball stadium were open so I walked around there for a bit.  I thought it was a mistake but I found out that the city keeps them open and invites people to come in and look around!  Go Fort Wayne Tincaps (they have that name because Johnny Appleseed is buried here). 

I went to get in my car and noticed I parked next to the Stoners Shop.  It says "funny goofy crap since 1949."  I saw lots of interesting things in the windows like magic kits and such.  I did not see any spin tops so I guess our prop is not goofy.  I chuckled to myself because across the street from Stoners is the county headquarters for the GOP.

[the Earl of Whirl]

I am having fun finding children who look bored and getting them some of Don's tops.  I got out my ukelele and was surprised to find another player singing and playing.  We did a couple numbers together and when I was walking back to my corner to put the uke away two others came over and said they played.  Maybe we can get a ukelele chorus going here?  There is a slack line here and I have been giving it a go.  I did have a good run juggling balls on it but I was not able to get the club juggling record.

Ted Baumhauer has tried to post on the board a couple of times but can't seem to get registered.  Maybe someone can help him?

[the Earl of Whirl]

flowjuggle.com has something they call a chaos stick.  It is two fire devil sticks that connect in the middle to make a huge plus sign.  There is a medal piece that holds them together and it forms a large point on both sides so you can spin it like a top.  Price - $126.

Mark Magyar is here!!!  He has a i'nmotion contraption you stand on like a unicycle and it moves you around in Segway like action.  It is quite amazing.

[the Earl of Whirl]

We are eating at O'Reilly's Irish Pub.  There are two entrances.  One is off the street and the other inside the baseball stadium.  It is cool to look out the big window and see the players warming up for the game tonight.  After some small talk, the guy across from me said he is from Missouri.  Oh, what city, I said.  Jefferson City.  Hmmm.  Do you know a guy named Neff?  Yes, yes I do.  Chris Neff.  Tell him Jim Ellison said "hi".

[lincolnrick]

Well, if you see Jim again, tell him Rick from Lincoln says Hi. Was he traveling alone?

[the Earl of Whirl]

I made it home.  I was only there for one full day and parts of two others but it was special for me to finally be able to stay overnight again.....and stay late for evening activities in the juggling room.  It has been over 20 years since I have been able to stay overnight at an IJA.  It was pretty neat.

I did see Jim again.  I told him Rick from Lincoln said hi.  He smiled and said "tell him 'hi' back."  I assumed he was traveling alone but I am not positive about that.

It was cool to hang out with the Jest Jugglers of Columbus, Ohio.  I felt like one of the crew and was able to keep my equipment with them.  Owen is quite the guy to be around during these big fests.  He knows A LOT of people.  I met a ton of people because of him.  One guy was Sem Abrahams and his family.  Sem holds the world record for riding the tallest unicycle.  He is not that far away up in Detroit, which is exciting because he and his son were very interested in tops and spinning and regeneration.  I gave them some of Don's tops and they were pretty excited about them.  Here is some information about Sem's record......

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tallest-unicycle-ride

And here is a nice site with pictures that talks about their work......

https://www.secondwavemedia.com/metromode/features/CirqueAmongusLivonia0354.aspx