Portland Juggling Festival and Show Return to Reed!
The Portland Juggling Festival returns to the Reed Sports Center, the weekend of October 18–20, 2024. The festival is FREE for Reed students, faculty, and staff. The festival features over 30 workshops in juggling, circus arts, and flow arts, for all levels from beginning to advanced. And there is a lot to see and do with special guests, prop vendors, open juggling, and the (in)famous Club Renegade (more on that below).
Where have we been? Well, the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in 2020, followed by the gym collapsing in an ice storm in 2021, put the festival on the move for the past four years. We had one festival online, two in city parks, and last year at JaJa PDX. Jugglers are ever-resilient and resourceful. And now, with the reopening of the Sports Center, we are delighted and excited to bring the 32nd annual Portland Juggling Festival back home to the Reed campus.
Even if you aren’t a juggler, you will enjoy Club Renegade on Friday night at 10:00pm in Vollum Lecture Hall. Club Renegade is like a Midnight Theater for juggling – entertaining and crazy tricks, things that aren’t ready for the main stage – and may never be. Generally hilarious, sometimes risqué, often quirky, most definitely live, and never a dull moment. Oh yeah, and it’s free.
Workshops are a huge part of the festival. This year there will be over 30 workshops by excellent teachers covering an array of props, skills, and techniques. Come get started on something new or build on what you know. All workshops are free as part of the festival. The workshop schedule is available online and at the festival registration desk. No sign-up, just show up and have fun!
Stuart Celarier ’83, who teaches the juggling class for AFOP, started the festival in 1992 to bring jugglers together and to showcase national and international talent to Reedies and local audiences. The Portland Juggling Festival has been featured in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and is one of the largest regional juggling festivals in North America. The festival is produced by volunteers from the Portland Jugglers, the local juggling community. And this year’s festival celebrates 45 years of juggling at Reed!
Don’t miss the Big Show! The high point of the festival is the Portland Juggling & Vaudeville Extravaganza show on Saturday evening at 7:00pm (doors at 6:30pm). There is a separate admission for the show with special $20 discount tickets for Reed students with current ID available at the door. Show tickets for everyone else are at portlandjugglers.org. The Extravaganza features the festival’s special guests and local favorites. This is an evening packed with entertainment that you will not see anywhere else in Portland! This year's headliner is Cyril Rabbath (France) who has performed over 10,000 times as a solo act for Cirque du Soleil: Incroyable! Other performers include Tana Karo (umbrella foot juggling), Jesse Patterson (outstanding hoop rolling), Cody Carter (four-time world baton champion), plus local favorites such as Supernova the Strongwoman (she’s really strong), and Rhys Thomas (hilarity and dexterity), and many others!
Aside: why is the festival at the start of fall break? The festival normally is at the end of September. This year, with the Sports Center just recently reopened, it seemed like a really good idea to give the staff and facilities folks additional time to get everything working and figure everything out. Look for the Portland Juggling Festival to resume its usual late September dates in future years.
See portlandjugglers.org for complete festival details, schedule, a full list of special guests and performers, and tickets for your non-Reed Community friends. Questions? Contact scelarier@reed.edu.
Festival schedule in a nutshell
Friday, 10/18
6 – 9:30 PM Festival workshops and more (Sports Center)
10 PM Club Renegade (Vollum Lecture Hall)
Late-night juggling (Sports Center)
Saturday, 10/19
10 AM – 5:30 PM Festival workshops and more (Sports Center)
7 PM Portland Juggling & Vaudeville Extravaganza show (Kaul Auditorium, separate admission)
Late-night juggling (Sports Center)
Sunday, 10/20
10 AM – 1 PM Festival workshops and more (Sports Center)
1 PM Awards and door prizes
1:30 PM – 3 PM Juggling Games