This is awesome! From Fergie nine years ago...good old days:
Subject: Rochelle Fest ReviewAuthor:
Michael FergusonDate: 5 Sep 1996
The 3rd Annual Rochelle Fest, held this past Sunday at Le Resort du Rochelle near Cincinnati, was an even bigger success than the previous two. The place rocked with juggling energy and numerous IJA gold medal winners were to be found in attendance.But it wasn't one of the gold medalists that was the star of this year's event but instead it was young Zack Wildofsky. Not yet three years old and attending his first juggling festival, Zack continually wowed the crowd with his uncanny juggling instincts.Nattily attired in a dark green golf shirt and a pair of rubber training pants over his diapers, he worked non-stop on 5 rings with pulldowns showing a dedication seldom seen in even the best of jugglers. While his club skills were somewhat limited, he was able to demonstrate a fine club kickup technique. Zack also showed some innovative ball through ring passing tricks as well as flawless backcross passes with balls.His father Sam says that Zack watches juggling videos for hours each day, his favorite being the
1991 St. Louis IJA video from which he cannot be pried away. Surely there is a talent being born here and you will likely be hearing more of Zack in the years to come. [Assuming, of course, that he doesn't develop a sudden interest in lawns and decide that his future lies in cutting grass in some friggin' desert somewhere.]Zack wasn't the whole story however, here's just a small sampling of the other sights at the festival:*The trio of Rochelle McCollom, Merry Spahr, and Erica Kelch demonstrating their "Wally Walking" style of club passing.*Erica, celebrating her [age deleted]th birthday by teaching everyone her new "Erica's Elimination" move with balls.*Arn Ward's fearless six bag juggle with a rare set of Fergie Bags.*Scott Sorensen showing us all how 6 clubs is juggled and also managing a flash of 7 clubs before moving on to do his usual high numbers juggling with rings.*One of the Cain brothers kicking a ball up behind his back and into a two high ball spin.*Yours Truly flashing his personal best with the five-ball behind-the-back limbo shower [which was missed by everyone due to their attendance at the club gather competition - Damn!].Probably the most popular trick was the popsickle-on-tongue balance which John Phipps introduced at the fest and which we all had a go at. We didn't all have a go at the synchronized juggle/swim however, but we all watched as two of the Scotts (Cain and Sorensen) had a go at it and go at it they did. Man, those two Scotts did not lack for buoyancy that's for sure, and their sterling performance was rewarded with more popsickles.A third Scott was in attendance too -- IJA Games-meister Scott Slesnick. This Scott refereed the 8 ring challenge, won by Yours Truly in a major upset over an upset
David Cain. Fortunately for the both of us,
Scott Sorensen missed the starting time for the event and was not allowed to compete. Never-the-less, Mr. Sorensen did shove a qualifying run of 8 rings in our faces on his first attempt just to show us who the _real_ boss was.Slesnick also led the Club Gather competition which was won by Aaron Bonk. Aaron broke the North American Club Gathering record by pulling in 43 clubs before finally dropping on number
44.Le Resort du Rochelle is my favorite juggling festival site. With indoor and outdoor juggling facilities, an open-air pool, an on-site
24 hour cafe, ample crash space for the sleeping bag crowd, and an air-conditioned video room it's the ideal locale for an end of the year juggling blow-out. Added for this year's event was a UV room and it proved quite popular with late-night jugglers. Another big hit at this year's Rochelle Fest was the fireworks show. Attendees at the first Rochelle Fest will recall the sad accident that occurred when one of our ranks attempted to put on an amateur fireworks show, so last year such activites were banned. But this year Rochelle came back bigger and better than ever with a professionally orchestrated explosion of sight and sound that could be seen throughout the greater-Cincinnati area. Magnifique!After the fireworks it was time for Club Rochelle. The show featured no juggling (true Club Renegade style, eh?) and was headlined by
David Cain. David proved a master at comedy, presenting hilarious routines such as "My ex-Girl Friend Had Gas ALL the Time", "The Dinosaur Walk", and "My Brother is Such a Liar". The latter routine left us all in stitches since we had earlier in the day been treated to an impromptu rendition of a similar routine by his twin brother Scott. David also led everyone in a chorus of Happy Birthday for Dina and Erica after which we all helped them devour their birthday cake.After the show it was time for UV juggling and more food and even more juggling and even more food and (of course) the traditional "Slag Off" wherein jugglers slag other jugglers who aren't present to defend themselves until only one juggler is left awake and slagging. This year's event ended at around 4:30am in a rare three-way tie between Nick McCollom, Scott Slesnick, and Yours Truly. Many jugglers were slagged and a good time was had by all!Kudos to Rochelle for hosting the premier juggling event of the summer!--Your Truly (a.k.a. Fergie)
