Portland Jugglers

The 17th Annual Portland Juggling Festival is fast approaching! Join us for a weekend of juggling, unicycling, and prop manipulation in the beautiful Rose City.

When?
September 25-27, 2009 (Friday evening through Sunday afternoon)

Where?
Reed College Sports Center
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202
The Sports Center is off of 28th Ave., on the west end of campus.
map

What the heck is it?
The Portland Juggling Festival is the largest regional juggling festival in the United States, with jugglers from around the world and down the street joining together to share their knowledge and show their skills. We have performers, hobby jugglers, and beginners joining together for a two and a half days of throwing. Expect a big show Saturday evening, workshops for beginning, intermediate, and advanced jugglers, and vendors of every variety of juggling prop.

There will be three Sunday Parkways in Portland this summer. And we'll be juggling! They begin in North Portland on June 21st, move to NE Portland on July 19th, and finish in SE Portland on August 16th.

What are Sunday Parkways? On the given Sunday, the city will prohibit vehicle traffic on a circular route of streets several miles long in the designated neighborhood leaving them free to be used by pedestrians and cyclists. Each route will link to parks in those neighborhoods with the parks hosting activities - food, games, music, entertainment, and juggling if you come out for it.

Sunday Parkways are based on similar events held in cities around the world, particularly in Bogota, Colombia, where it originated, and which has developed into a large community celebration and festival.

The designated parks where we will gather are:
• June 21: Arbor Lodge Park in North Portland
• July 19: Wilshire Park in NE Portland
• August 16: Laurelhurst Park in SE Portland

For more information about Portland Sunday Parkways, visit: http://www.portlandonline.com/Transportation/index.cfm?c=46103

We're pleased to announce that we'll be throwing our 17th Annual Portland Juggling Festival the last weekend in September.

September 25 - 27, 2009
Reed College Sports Center
Portland, Oregon

Plenty more details coming soon!

New Vaudeville, Modern Circus, Extremely Funny Physical Theater!

The 12th annual Portland Clowns Without Borders Benefit Show is here again, Friday, March 20th at 7:30pm at the Da Vinci Middle School
Theater, 2508 NE Everett, Portland. The best of new vaudeville and modern circus to fund two Portland-led Clowns Without Borders projects in Haiti.

Reserve your tickets now, online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/57759 or buy them at the door. Pre-purchased ticket holders will have priority seating. $10-25 adults, $5-10 youth 12 and under. Definitely family friendly.

This is an annual highlight of Portland's variety theater/new circus scene featuring Portland's top jugglers, acrobats, eccentric comedians, and clowns -- including:

• The Bellini Twins, as seen recently on the Jay Leno show
• Leapin' Louie the most explosive Lithuanian-Jewish Cowboy Comedian to ever come out of Oregon
• The hilarious clowns of the Nomadic Theatre Co
• Magician extraordinaire Adam the Great
• The fabulous, funny Angel Ocasio
• Hoop genius Revolva -- new to Portland
• Shireen Press of Flamebuoyant Productions
• Tap dancer Aaron Wheeler-Kay
• The Zig-Zags from Do Jump!
• The Cedarwood Waldorf School Circus
• and more ...
  ... with live accompaniment by the Shoehorn Hat Band!

All to benefit Clowns Without Borders-USA. Portland has for 11 years been arguably the strongest center for Clowns Without Borders of any city in the US. This year the benefit will finance at least two projects to Haiti, led by local performers, Sarah Liane Foster (Nomadic Theatre) and David Lichtenstein (Leapin' Louie, Wanderlust Circus). On these trips professional performers will donate their time to bring shows and workshops to communities in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere even before it was hit by four hurricanes in the past year. No child without a smile!

More info about Clowns Without Borders:

• http://clownswithoutborders.org/
• http://clownswithoutborders.org/expeditions/Ayiti/haiti07.shtml

The OSU Jugglers Club and the Corvallis Juggling and Unicycling Club are planning another great festival! It's just a short trip off of I-5 at the beautiful Oregon State University campus. Plan on a thrilling weekend of juggling and unicycling, with a couple of great shows, workshops, and multiple prop vendors.

Friday - Sunday
March 27-29, 2009
McAlexander Fieldhouse
Oregon State University
http://jugglingconvention2009.blogspot.com/

We'll see you there!

Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2008 Portland Juggling Festival such a great success. I hope you all had a great time and will be visiting us again in 2009.

Some local photographers took some great pictures during the festival and show. Enjoy!

Skippy Steve: http://www.stevenlprice.smugmug.com/Hobbies/618903
John Rudoff, M.D.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27490251@N03/sets/72157607617270554/

If you'd like links to your photos or videos of the festival, send us a note using the Contact Us link on the Web site.

They made it to Portland. Can anyone give them a ride back to Eugene?

Drew Carney from KGW Channel 8 showed up early one morning at Serious Juggling to talk about juggling, unicycling, and the Portland Juggling Festival. Check out the video, with Rhys, Matilda, Curt, Madison, Ben, and Yvette:

http://www.kgw.com/video/index.html?tn&nvid=285639&shu=1

The Portland Jugglers are pleased to announce that we'll have two world champion jugglers performing at the Juggling and Vaudeville Extravaganza on September 27.

Tony Duncan: Tony has been performing since 1982. He appeared throughout the US in theaters, corporate shows, nightclubs and colleges, and in different venues all over the world, from circuses in Denmark and Japan to cruise ships in Antarctica. Tony is a Gold Medal winner of the International Jugglers' Association championships, and twice took home top honors at the Variety Artists World Cup in Japan by being named Most Original Act and Most Impressive Act.

Thomas Dietz: Thomas comes to us from Regensburg, Germany, and is recognized as one of the greatest technical jugglers in the world. He holds multiple juggling records, is a Gold medalist for the International Jugglers' Association championships, and is the current reigning champion of the World Juggling Federation competition.

The Portland Juggling Festival is less than two weeks away! Join us September 26-28 for a great weekend of juggling, workshops, and the Juggling and Vaudeville Extravaganza.

Thanks to Brad Yazzolino for the promo video!