For a number of years the Reading Juggler’s Club held June Jugglefest at Kutztown University. During the renovation at Schaeffer Auditorium they did not have a show. Once the renovation was complete they decided not to continue their festival.
The Brandywine Heights Cascade Brigade Juggling Club has been around for 20 years. It was started by Jerry Battenfield, a retired math teacher. He would take the kids to the KU festival. They loved it.
When the festival ended our kids decided we could have a festival at our school. Last year we had our first event and things went well. We had about 75 participants throughout the day and 12 performers in the evening show.
We decided to hold the Festival again this year.
The Brandywine Heights Cascade Brigade Juggling Club Juggling Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on May 20 at Brandywine Heights High School.
Because we wanted to make the show accessible to everyone we decided not to charge admission and performers do so for free. We decided to collect a canned good for Friend, Inc as a way to give back to the community. Our school club is self supporting and we do not receive any financial assistance from the school district.
The purpose of the event is to bring jugglers through the region together to share their love of juggler and teach each other new tricks. This juggling festival will feature workshops, games, open juggling and end with a free show in the auditorium starting at 6:30 p.m. This year we have confirmed a number of exciting participants.
James Stilianos will serve as the master of ceremonies for our show. He is a member of the Reading Jugglers Club who is a magician, juggler and sword swallower. Along with Jeremy Bennett he performs as the Amazing Bologna Brothers.
Cheryl Honchen will be teaching a hula hooping workshop and performing in the show. In May of 2012, she began holding weekly hoop jams at a local park and spreading the hoop love to the community by providing hula hooping lessons. Cheryl then joined forces with other like-minded flow artists that formed the troupe The Eclectic Circus and earned her stage name “Twinfinity”. Twinfinity is also the founder of Crufeli Sideshow and Entertainment, a performance artist troupe that specializes in various circus arts, and is in the process of creating a fully interactive stage show experience of visual effects, live performers, and gypsy musicians (www.Crufeli.com).
Cheryl “Twinfinity” Honchen has performed at numerous venues and events including The Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, Coca-Cola Park, Allentown, in front of an audience of over 5,000 people, Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, and numerous music and flow art festivals and charity events.
Workshops will be offered by Matthew Ossiander who is a Cyr Wheel enthusiast. Matt is a financial planner who moonlights in the circus world. He began his enjoyment of object manipulation starting with a hula hoop and discovered the fascinating craft of Cyr Wheel. He will also be performing in the show.
Other performers will be Kyle Mertz who is a juggler and whip kracker as well as magicians Brent Lil and Crystal. The Cascade Brigade Jugglers will also been performing their classical scene from our Vaudeville Talent show in the evening show. We hope to have a few more performers. People are allowed to sign up on the day of the show to participate.