Skagit County Fair 2016

This year, Wren and I (along with Chipp, Nate, and Harmony) were hired to be circus teachers and performers at the Skagit County Fair.

Wren and I performed three 8 or 9 hour days, which included 4 shows a day and teaching in the blazing sun.

  It was quite a fun and exhausting feat!

Here I am teaching diabolo to some fun young ladies.

 And Nate teaching a group of budding plate-spinners.

The scene.

 Wren, entertaining some curious young passers-by.

 Below is the article from the Skagit Valley Herald about us, well, mostly a highlight on Wren. Pretty neato!

MOUNT VERNON — When Wren Schultz was a student at Anacortes High School, his performance in the talent show involved juggling two hatchets and a hammer.

Though Schultz now lives in Whatcom County, those skills brought him back to Skagit County on Wednesday as part of a circus performance at the Skagit County Fair.

Known as the Circus A Team, Schultz, Della Plaster and Nate Wheeler drew more than 100 viewers, mostly children, during their first performance.

The group danced, performed tricks and juggled, with Wheeler catching a ball on his head to the delight of the crowd. As a finale, Schultz and Plaster performed a juggling routine that culminated with Plaster being perched on Schultz’s shoulders.

Schultz said he took up juggling after a visitor left some juggling balls.

“It was before YouTube,” he said. “You mostly had to teach yourself.”

In time, Schultz began performing. The Circus A Team is scheduled to perform multiple times a day during the fair and will feature a slightly changing lineup. The group is affiliated with the Bellingham Circus Guild.

This year is the group’s first time at the Skagit County Fair, although they give frequent performances at festivals, birthday parties and other events throughout the summer.

After Wednesday’s debut, several of the young audience members filed onto the grass to try their hand at some of the group’s tricks. Members of the group lent them juggling clubs, balls, hoops and other objects to try.

“All the kids lined up. It was sweet,” said Plaster, who performs as Della Moustachella.

The performers showed the group a few tricks to help them get started.

“When we started, we just performed,” Schultz said. “But people want to play as much as watch.”