Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[the Earl of Whirl]

Dear johnm, I thought you guys would have a good time chatting away.  Glad to hear it.  We were busy over here, anyways.  I just got back from changing a flat tire down in West Chester on one of my step daughter's vehicles!  I'm glad you kept them busy while I was away. 

Look forward to seeing you tomorrow!!!

[Kirk]

Rachel and I just arrived a few minutes ago.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Wow!  What a great afternoon of spinning and sharing!!!  We had ten people in the pre-fest gathering having a great time.  Looking forward to tonight and after the fest some Bullwinkle's and then Topland fun along with the Hall of Fame.

[poptop]

Have fun y'all!  I wish I was there to join in the good times.

Pictures!

[the Earl of Whirl]

We are now in Bullwinkle's Top Hat Bistro and waiting to watch Eli eat some ribs.  The fest went well.  Lots of great throwing for hours and then kids stayed to throw even longer with the pros.  It was heartwarming to see.

In the youth battletops we did not have as many teams this year.  I was afraid of that with all the conflicts people were telling me they had.  We lost some of our regulars who we have counted on for years because of that.  But we did have one 15 year old girl in the battletop competition who was at our first festival 14 years ago!

[ta0]

I know I am missing a top meeting that will become part of top lore   

With so much creative top modding brainpower mingling together, some awesome ideas for future tops should come out of Miamisburg 2013.

The Hall of Fame will be full of inductees tonight.  And Topland will be the Land of Top People . . .

[Dick Stohr]

Well the house has finally emptied out, great crowd.  Wish I could say that I would rather have been with you guys but that would be a lie.  Great day, really nice service, terrific reception and party.  I did renew Bev's one year option again so she is stuck with me for at least another year.  Did do some spin toping with the granddaughters so it was truly terrific.  Alan, Chris, David and the Hickersons safe travels home.

[the Earl of Whirl]

It is 2am and I am winding down from a pretty amazing evening.  After supper we departed to the Hall of Fame and Topland.  The Hall has made some nice progress over the past year with more shelves and the Toycrafter display so I was happy with most of that.  I was not so happy with some of the spider webs and how the place gets so warm when people gather there.  Despite that, there were lots of discussions and exchanges of ideas culminating with some top-nosis like activity and a top light show in the dark.  I would like to hear what others thought of all of that.

For the first time, Topland started acting like Topland.  We didn't have some of the activities I thought we might (like battle tops over fire) but we did fill a conical pinata with hundreds of finger tops and hung it up.  We then took some pretty heavy old tops and tried to knock open the pinata to spring the tops loose.  We were making some progress but then I threw one of those heavy things over the fence and toward a neighbor's car.  Or was that a window?  Thankfully, nothing was broken and we headed back to finish the job.  Later, deadeye Eli showed his exceptional skill by throwing another big top even farther over the fence!  When he returned and all appeared to be OK, we finally broke open the pinata with a big splash of Toysmith finger spinners everywhere.  Maybe we can get a picture of that before everyone leaves tomorrow?

[ta0]

. . .  culminating with some top-nosis like activity and a top light show in the dark.

Did you dare to turn off the lights of the Hall and spin in the dark?  With all the players' relics you have accumulated there, it must be haunted by now . . .

I love the idea of a piñata filled with tops that needs to be broken with a top throw.  Now, was the piñata shaped like a top?

[jim in paris]

hello Zitéllini !

i see you had lots of fun!!
the pinata concept is great : we are going to try it at the festival next year
What distance from the floor do you hang it ?

we want pics 
jim

[the Earl of Whirl]

Well, I made it to Sunday afternoon.  I am pretty tired, my back is aching and my legs are stiff and sore.......but it is all worth it!

The all-star patrol was ready to head out pretty early this morning but I talked them into staying for the beginning of our 10:30 worship service.  They came out during announcements and did some spinning while I introduced them.  It was fun and everyone in the congregation had smiles on their faces.  Daveid gave me some of his flowers made out of paper clips and then they were off.  I gave the metal flowers out to the kids during the children's sermon.  Kirk and Rachel came for the noon service and knew almost all the words to our songs.  What a great morning and now I can add that to other top spinning/St. Jacob memories......like when Dale helped me give a spinning sermon, Dick and his children's sermon, ta0 and Mark spinning to one of the hymns, Matt Ritter playing guitar at our noon service.  I think we just might be one of the most top spinning churches out there!

There was some sad news when we arrived home from lunch.  We found a piece of luggage near the front door.  As I looked for a name I saw a Flatland t-shirt.  It has to be Alan's!  Sorry about that.  We just need an address and then we can mail it to you.

I can still see a lot of tops on the deck in the backyard.....good memories of a whild night of top spinning.  Some of the guys took a picture of the mess so hopefully everyone can get a laugh out of our antics.  Yes, the pinata was shaped like a top.  Not much of a crown and not much of a spinning point but it looked close enough to hang in the Hall of Fame for the past several years.  When the idea hit me this week, the pinata was ready to go.  I hung it about five feet to six feet up on the horizontal bar.

A top spinning ghost?  I like the idea.  I will see what we can do.

[johnm]

I had another fantastic year at the Miamisburg Whirled Top Festival.  Thank you Mike for organizing the event and inviting me into your home and the Hall of Fame.  Thank you also to all the travelers covering what I’ll call extreme distances to make the gathering fun filled and unique.  I really enjoyed meeting so many new advanced spinners (Alan, David, Chris N., Austen, Kirk (and his very spin supportive wife Rachel) and seeing repeat visitors (Mike, Eli, Chris A., Seth) is always great. 

A very incomplete list of highlights for me includes:

Alan’s variety of custom tops (and yo-yos) in both style and material
David’s extreme use of everyday materials to fabricate tops
Chris’s fresh four strand string that is so tight but feels broken-in just off the machine
Chris’s creations of many different top styles from around the whirled
The Hickerson’s embrace of top spinning as a family activity
Mike’s persistence with Alan’s big modular bowl top
Both of Seth’s girls (Iris and Eden) in the kids’ top battle
Kids crowding around Kirk for “next step” training beyond the target throw
Jay’s almost perfect record for coincidentally filming my missed tricks
Chris’s top balancing workshop (sorry I missed most of it but thanks for demonstrating on several of mine)
Many kids joining the advanced players after the contest (more so than other years since the somewhat lighter attendance allowed the contest to finish earlier and the participation prizes of Brazilian tops supplied by a collaboration of Larry D. and Flavio were different enough to wind that they asked for help to learn to play them.
The Brazilian top battle and the variety of ways discovered to effectively throw them (thanks Larry D. and Flavio)
The new additions from Don Olney to the Hall of fame
The new additions to Autograph
The Hickerson’s all-day youthful energy especially in TopLand
Lots of great conversations about tops and top events.

Thanks everyone for a really great time.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Nice list, johnm.  Thanks for sharing that.  I think I will keep to your format with some other thoughts I had before I forget them:

Many thanks to my wife Dawn who worked so hard behind the scenes for this event
Daveid laughing when he saw our church sign "THE WHIRLED MEETS IN MIAMISBURG"
The aggravation of Alan's bowl top creation!
Getting sympathy for the big blister on my winding finger from Alan's bowl creation
Listening to everyone's comments about the visit to johnm's place
Chris's amazing work with string making
The aggravation of missing Chris's throwing and tricks with his tops
Seeing Alan's clever designs on Flatland t-shirts
Talking to Daveid about his 3:00 video of regens that inspired me for so many years
Hearing Chris talk about his family and remembering when my kids were young
Still walking outside in the backyard and laughing at all the little tops on the ground
Thinking back on the all-star car concept and not believing it could really happen
Everyone's flexibility despite having to cram three people in one little bedroom
Thankful for people looking at the Hall of Fame and not laughing at my wackiness
Thinking how hot it gets in the Hall of Fame when a group of people come to visit
Shaking my head at the great spinability of johnm's new top creations
Appreciating the help and dedication of other adults with the fest, especially Jay and David
How thankful I am to have such good friends here in Miamisburg and here on this forum
 

[the Earl of Whirl]

Monday morning and heading to the office but first a couple more thoughts:

How neat to hear the mayor talk excitedly about what happens when you google "Mayor Dick Church".  You get a youtube video of him throwing a top!

What a great surprise to see Chris Agee pull up on Saturday to enjoy all the festivities.  He was last here on Jorge Day and follows us here on the forum!

What a joy to have the energy of the Hickerson's with us.  They always make me laugh.  And then they add lots of enthusiasm to a late night visit to Topland!

How great to have a visit from woodturner Phil Newport who I met at an Artistry in Wood convention in northern Dayton.  I think he picked up a lot of good ideas!

Kirk and Rachel were called "hard core" at worlds and they certainly are as they stayed late at the Hall of Fame and were also at our guitar led church service the next day!

Being able to share the "Kirk's stolen tops" story at that guitar service with tops then sent to replace them from Jim in Paris and so many other places around the world!

 

[Shootist]

Made it home from Miamisburg around 8:00 pm Sunday Night. I dropped off Austen and Eli at the house and I drove another hour to turn in the rental car. I finally made it home around 9:30 pm. Austen and Eli had to get up the next morning at 6:30 am for school and work. We always have a great time at this event. It's fun to meet people we know and also new people. We enjoy coming together to see new Spintops and to learn or be taught new tricks. After the festival, we like the camaraderie at Bullwinkle's and the Spintop Hall of Fame. Thanks Mike (The Earl of Whirl) for a Great Festival, We look forward to next year.