Last weekend people came from far and wide to attend the 38th Annual Isla Vista Juggling Festival at UC Santa Barbara and Isla Vista! The extravaganza is the longest-running juggling festival in the world!
The highlight of the Festival is the Public Show, but all weekend people juggled and unicycled in Robertson Gym at UCSB. There were workshops to learn new skills and total beginners were welcome, too!
Chilla Vista was happening at the same time on Saturday in Anisq’Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista. So, the UCSB Unicycle Tribe was over there demonstrating unicycle gladiator battling!
People do stunts in Robertson Gym that you will never see in a circus or in other public performances. In particular, juggling large numbers of objects. The San Luis Obispo unicyclists initiated rarely seen games, including basketball, played on unicycles!
But the highlight is still the public show at the Girvetz Theater, which raised money for the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center. This entire event and fundraising is in honor and memory of Isla Vista juggler and UCSB student Patty Laney, who was raped and murdered in 1977.
— Robert Bernstein is a local photographer and frequent Noozhawk contributor. The opinions expressed are his own.
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