Pocono Juggle and Circus Arts Festival in Lansford, Pennsylvania

By JoAnn Ireland

The Pocono Juggle and Circus Festival, the thirteenth festival in fifteen years, took place this year over a three-day weekend, starting on Friday evening, February 28th and going through Sunday afternoon, March 2nd at the Panther Valley Junior and Senior High School in Lansford, Pennsylvania. All skill levels are welcome at the juggling and circus arts festival and it’s open to the public. The festival is currently admission free and is supported by the Saturday evening show ticket sales (only $10 per person), sales of festival merchandise (e.g. festival logo branded t-shirts, drawstring prop bags, journals, wooden coin-hole tabletop games, and wooden cutting boards), and a raffle consisting of numerous donated items.

The raffle this year offered another great selection of unique items to choose from, which included multiple vintage juggling t-shirts, a yo-yo, two footbags, a three-beanbag set, a five-ball set, a diabolo kit, poi, a boomerang, a kendama, a toss-it game, a comprehensive magic book, a rola bola, a unicycle, and for use and decoration in your home – multiple framed artistic juggling and circus themed graphic prints, two monkey fist knot candles, and two juggling branded wooden cutting boards. If you’re coming to the festival next year, it’s all the more reason to consider bringing something to donate that fits with the juggling / circus arts theme that another juggler or circus artist would appreciate. There was also one prop vendor in attendance, Pass the Props run by Brad and Bonnie Wyman, who offered an assortment of juggling props available for purchase.

One unique aspect of the festival that I especially enjoyed was the support by the Panther Valley wrestling booster parents. They had extensive homemade food and beverage options for sale throughout the festival (nothing was more than $5, with many items at $2 or $3) and the school had cafeteria tables set up for you to enjoy the food, meet new friends and catch up with old juggling friends. Workshops (e.g., one by Donnell Griffith who shared his unique style of club juggling and manipulation) were conveniently going on nearby in adjacent areas, so you never felt far from the juggling action. Basically, you never had to leave the festival site if you didn’t want to to get something to eat, which was incredibly convenient.

Pocono Juggle and Circus Arts Festival

There were many jugglers in the gym on Saturday afternoon, although the attendance seemed a bit lower than the previous year. There was plenty of bleacher space to store your prop bag, or just grab a seat to take a break and watch the juggling. One highlight of the festival is the most extreme trick contest that took place on Saturday afternoon. The gym closed at 6:00 PM for jugglers to get some dinner before the evening show started at 7:00 PM, which was also conveniently located within the school auditorium.

Donnell Griffith juggling four clubs

The evening show was emceed by Michael Rosman of Baltimore, Maryland who has been a premier figure in entertainment for 35 years. He started off the show with a nine box cigar box stacking / turning routine on a small tabletop to the music, “Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around),” which he concluded by showing a painted white heart on the black cigar boxes. It was a nice way to combine his act with the chosen music.

Donnell Griffith was the first performer and he is both a circus educator and college English teacher born and raised in New York City. During his act he artistically spun, manipulated, balanced, and juggled one through four clubs. Donnell was juggling for a couple of years before he was hired by Bryant Park as an official teacher.

Acacia Noel spinning hula-hoops

Acacia Noel was the next performer and she is a Philadelphia-based circus artist, having grown up in rural Alaska and is currently a student at Circadium. During her first act, Acacia artistically spun and manipulated multiple red hula-hoops on her arms, legs, and even on her bun of hair that was neatly arranged atop her head, all while she was seated on a folding chair.

Joe Janicki with devilsticks

Mike Rosman came back to the stage and juggled three knives while balanced on a rola bola that was atop of an end table. He comically did stop to tie his untied shoes while on the rola bola before he started juggling.

The next performer was Joe Janicki from Connecticut who is a professional bike trials rider. During his act he skillfully showcased his unique devilstick skills that included juggling a devil stick with the two handsticks, plenty of propeller spins with one and then two devil sticks, and he then performed with up to three devil sticks where he interlaced juggling with complex body rolls. His act unquestionably demonstrated his influences from poi and contact staff, which the audience would appreciate later on in the show.

David Darwin sword swallowing and performing with cigar boxes

David Darwin from Philadelphia was next and he has been on the television show, “America’s Got Talent.” David did a sword swallowing act and comically said he made the sword as dull as possible. David then gave a quick overview of Vaudeville (that’s pre-internet) and performed a nice nine cigar box stack in honor of W.C. Fields. When one cigar box went off the stage and an audience member put it back on the stage, David humorously retrieved the cigar box.

Meadow Perry bubble artist

Meadow Perry was up next and is a magician and bubble artist and is a regular at the Hollywood Magic Castle, who also attended Indiana’s Ball State University for musical theater. During her performance she created multiple bubbles together in artful arrangements, some of which she filled with a white smoke, which she also manipulated through a translucent acrylic cylinder.

Acacia Noel’s rubber chicken and egg themed juggling and hula-hoop act

Acacia Noel came back on stage to provide the closing performance of the first half of the show, which was a true highlight of the evening for me to watch. Acacia was on stage, unseen by the audience because she was inside a large egg costume that had large googly-like eyes with a zig-zag line around the central horizontal axis of the egg shell allowing the shell to break apart. She proceeded to artistically move and dance around the stage dropping small yellow rubber chickens out of the egg. She then removed the top half of the egg shell, so the audience could then see that she was dressed as a yellow chicken, with white feathers around her shoulders and upper arms, a yellow beak, and a red comb on the top of her head. She proceeded to toss and juggle 1 through 5 rubber chicken eggs while inside the lower half of the egg shell. She then got out of the lower half of the large egg shell and proceeded to combine acrobatic and dance moves while spinning and manipulating hula-hoops and also juggled three larger yellow rubber chickens. Acacia’s act was a fantastic new take on incorporating juggling with the rubber chicken and egg theme.

After the first half of the show, the brief intermission gave everyone a break to stretch, allowed for plenty of socialization with the other audience members, and snacks and beverages were again available for purchase from the Panther Valley wrestling booster parents.

At the beginning of the second half of the show a few jugglers shared a very nice photo and musical presentation honoring the juggler Sky King who had sadly passed away on May 16, 2022. Many individuals in attendance knew Sky well through the juggling community and miss her presence and influence at festivals; it was wonderful to see this tribute of her.

Meadow Perry magician and bubble artist

Mike Rosman came back on stage and proceeded to make a snack. He put a graham cracker with chocolate sauce on top in his mouth, put a marshmallow in a plastic cup, dunked it with some gasoline, put the marshmallow on the top of his foot, lit the marshmallow on fire, and to the audience’s enjoyment he kicked the flaming marshmallow up from his foot, skillfully catching it on the chocolate covered graham cracker in his mouth – no doubt a new way to make a S’more. Kids, don’t try this at home.

Meadow Perry then came back on stage and selected a member from the audience, specifically looking for an individual who was very well traveled. She succeed in finding one and brought him on stage while she performed a postcard based magic trick. She had a stack of postcards of many well-known travel locations and while she had her back turned to the audience member, she flipped through the postcards one by one placing them face down on a nearby stool. She asked the audience member to say stop and she gave him the postcard to show the audience, but instructed him not to show her – the photo on the postcard was of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. She then performed bubble manipulation to create a long white smoke filled bubble that leaned to one side due to its inherent instability on top of a tray, which of course represented the Leaning Tower of Pisa. When the ephemeral bubble burst, Meadow showed the underside of the tray to the audience, which also magically had a drawing of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

For the next part of her act, Meadow performed an artistic piece where she created and then manipulated bubbles, some of which were filled with white smoke, on single and then multiple horizontal strings, which she soaked with bubble solution, that were inside a metal frame at tabletop height. For her finale she lit one bubble on fire in her hand, resulting in a flame coming out of her hand. Again, kids, don’t try that at home.

David Darwin’s lasso and whip act

David Darwin came back onstage, dressed in a cowboy hat and western attire and performed a lasso / rope spinning act. David then selected a member from the audience, Sam, and invited him onstage. David proceeded to spin the lasso around Sam, had Sam happily wave to the audience, and then slowly lowered the rope so Sam could dramatically jump out. For his next trick, David selected another member from the audience, Cara Lee. David asked her to extend her arm and hold a red rose out horizontally. He then used a bull whip to comically cut the rose, purposefully missing the rose stem a few times, all to her and the audience’s enjoyment.

Joe Janicki with a devilstick and poi

Joe Janicki made his return to the stage performing complex moves with two and then three meteor style poi, and then performed with a devilstick with one hand stick and one poi in the other hand, at one point he juggled all three objects. He concluded his performance with manipulating a large contact staff. This allowed the audience to appreciate the influence of his multiple skills that helped shape his performance seen during the first half of the show.

Mike Rosman returned to the stage to share an entertaining life hack with the audience. He explained that there are empty sheds at the Home Depot, and if you need a lock, you can buy one there, and once you have a lock – now it’s your shed. Mike segued from that life hack by bringing on stage a chain with a lock that he couldn’t open, but he quickly had three audience members guess a number between 0 and 39 for the combination of the lock. He then had another audience member come up to help him open the lock; however, with that combination, the lock did not open. He wrote the numbers down in a notebook that he has been keeping with combinations from his previous performances, so he would know not to try those numbers for the combination again.

Matt Walmsley juggling balls, rings, and clubs

Matt Walmsley was up next and can be seen juggling on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ. When he was ten years old a torn rotator cuff ended his traditional sports activities; however, even with that setback, Matt became the International Jugglers’ Association (IJA) juniors gold medalist in 2022, and the World Juggling Federation (WJF) 19 advanced overall champion winning first place in 2024. Matt displayed incredible skills juggling with five clubs, five and seven balls, then five and seven rings, and concluded his act with six clubs. His act showcased the epitome of athletic juggling with balls, rings, and clubs.

 

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Michael Rosman juggler and Saturday evening show emcee

Mike Rosman came back on stage to juggle five balls, a bit more of a challenging skill for him, and talked about his unicycle collection, noting that he has 80 unicycles. He then brought onstage a giraffe unicycle that was comically locked to a parking meter – making him the only performer to travel with an actual parking meter. He unlocked the unicycle from the parking meter and then had David Darwin return to the stage to assist him with getting on the tall unicycle where he proceeded to juggle three knives.

 

Archie Ingunza with diabolos

Archie Ingunza is a New York City based circus performer who specializes in the diabolo. Having worked with the Bindlestiff Family Circus and Circus Splendiferous. Archie has won third place in the 2024 USA National Diabolo Competition for individuals 18 years of age and older. Archie performed incredible tricks with one diabolo, including many in the vertax or Excalibur orientation. Then, while using a bubble machine onstage, he performed a beautiful piece with a long ribbon attached to the spinning diabolo for a great streaming visual effect. He concluded his routine by performing more amazing tricks with two LED diabolos onstage. Considering this was toward the end of the evening show and the first time diabolos were used onstage, his skills were a sight to see.

 

Jasper Murphy juggling clubs

The final act of the evening was Jasper Murphy who is from Philadelphia having recently moved from Austin, Texas. Jasper juggled three clubs to an instrumental  version of, “Funkytown.” that included siteswaps and pirouettes. He then concluded his act by juggling four and then five clubs with many head balances as part of the  patterns. It was a great finale performance for a wonderful show.

 

Pocono Juggle and Circus Arts Festival 2025 Saturday evening show performers

Jugglers in the Panther Valley Jr/Sr High School gym after the Saturday evening show

As the show concluded, it was easy to see that considering Lansford, Pennsylvania is a small town, this show was a great opportunity for local audience members to see  high caliber performers in a convenient venue. After the Saturday evening show many jugglers returned to the gym for the raffle drawing and a bit more juggling  before the gym closed at 10:00 PM. Juggling and festival activities also continued in the gym on Sunday.

To provide some background about the area considering Lansford, Pennsylvania is a town you probably are not familiar with in northeastern Pennsylvania (Carbon  County) it’s a town that grew with the development of the coal mining industry, has a population of approximately 4,100 people (as of the 2020 census), and is located  in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania.

Geographically, Lansford is conveniently surrounded by many larger population areas: approximately 330 miles southwest of Boston, 200 miles southwest of New  Haven, 120 miles west of New York City, 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia, 210 miles northeast of Washington DC, 270 miles east of Pittsburgh, 460 miles northeast  of Columbus, OH; 335 miles southeast of Erie, PA; 370 miles southeast of Cleveland, OH; and 275 miles southeast of Rochester, NY. For those traveling from Canada, Toronto and Montreal are also each approximately 650 to 700 kilometers away. The Lehigh Valley International Airport is approximately 40 miles away with numerous flights from seven cities in Florida, and also Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Newark, and Myrtle Beach. Alternative airport options include Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Philadelphia, Newark, NJ; and Harrisburg.

If you have an opportunity while you are in the area, the quaint town of Jim Thorpe (with a population of approximately 4,500 as of the 2020 census) is less than ten miles from Lansford. Jim Thorpe is worth visiting because of its many hotels, shopping, and restaurant options and it offers the charms of a European village with the thrills of a mountain sports destination. The town of Jim Thorpe was originally named Mauch Chunk and then renamed in 1954 when it became the final resting place for the famous athlete who was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics – two golds in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon. Jim Thorpe also played professional football, baseball, and basketball and has been considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports.

 

Signage at the Lookout Hostel, New Tripoli, PA

 

The view at the Lookout Hostel, New Tripoli, PA

Also nearby for those who enjoy hiking is the highly regarded Appalachian Trail, the world’s longest hiking-only footpath at 2,190+ miles going from Georgia, through Pennsylvania, to Maine – conceived in 1921 then built by private citizens and completed in 1937. One scenic viewpoint is at the Lookout Hostel, which is approximately 20 miles from Lansford located at 8680 Rte 309, New Tripoli, PA 18066 (484-357-9178 (please text)), where an inexpensive lodging option is available for hikers and non-hikers alike. Currently the rates are a suggested donation of $35/night for a bunk in a room that sleeps up to six people, $50 for a private room, and tenting for a fee – it gets cold in Pennsylvania during late February and early March, bundle up and insulate well if you’re considering the tenting option. At the  Lookout Hostel there’s a shared shower, half bath, living room, kitchen, and laundry. Many additional nearby lodging options can be found on the Pocono Juggle and Circus Arts Festival website.

A lot of people worked really hard to bring together the Pocono Juggle and Circus Arts Festival, first and foremost the co-founders and co-organizers Kim Laird and  Rob Barowski, Marty Larsen who provided the sound during the show, Ella Larsen who was always available at the festival front table in the gym, Jay Ko for  recording the evening show and taking photographs during the festival, all of the aforementioned evening show performers, and of course the many staff members at the Panther Valley School District who have been so welcoming to the jugglers and circus artists over the years – thank you for having us! Next year’s Pocono Juggle and Circus Arts Festival is currently being planned for the weekend of March 6 th through the 8 th of 2026.

Written and photographed by JoAnn Ireland.

JoAnn Ireland is a longtime hobbyist juggler who especially prefers juggling beanbags, joggles (running and juggling), and occasionally rides a unicycle. She is grateful for the opportunity to have been able to attend many IJA and regional juggling festivals.