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Tag Archives: festivals

44th Annual Art on the Green, Coeur d’Alene, ID August 3-5

I had such a fine time.  A few things went a little goofy but overall the events were something I enjoy immensely.  I believe everyone should see Art on the Green in Coeur d’Alene.  An absolute blast.  We arrived on Friday evening and I walked through the fair and came upon the director of the children’s event area, Isis Siegler.  She graciously invited me to perform and distribute balloons for the little ones all day Saturday and Sunday.  It was on Sunday I had a little trouble with which event I should have been attending, but that got straightened out quickly.  All I can say is shame on Coeur d’Alene.  You’d have to have been there to know why.  Again, I had my trusty side-kick Russ with me on Saturday.

FaerieWorlds Summer Festival, Eugene July 27

This was a strange one.  It is always one of the better festivals I attend each year, and it proved to be no exception this year.  The strange part was getting in to the event.  Again, I didn’t have an invitation to attend, so I had to pay my own way.  I had arrived early and there was a lot of security.  I took all of my cunning to get past the front gate guard, but I was successful.  Again I performed alone which works out well at this particular event.  The children wanted balloons, but a lot of them want magic too, so I gratified them with both.

Canterbury Renaissance Festival, Mt. Angel July 13

The Saturday performance went well even though I did it alone.  Nancy was there with more on her plate than anyone would want.  She is a trooper plus.  I gave away over 200 balloons, but I was so busy running the pump I didn’t do much magic.  I hope my fans didn’t mind.  It rained at my house on Sunday, and because I don’t have a canopy for cover, I didn’t attend.

World Beat Festival, Salem Jun 30

I did get a little wet at the World Beat Festival, in fact quite soaked with the rest of my troupe.  I had with me a student I had met in magic class, Becky Ekland, and the instructor of the magic class John Edsall.  These two are true helpers.  I had invited Becky to join me and help inflate balloons.  She proved more than helpful.  John just happened by.  He wasn’t doing anything so he thought he’d see how we were doing.  If it hadn’t been for the rain, I’m sure we would have stayed longer.

Added another festival to my 2012 schedule

Don’t forget to look for me at Faerieworlds Summer Festival in Eugene, Oregon on July 27, 28 and 29th..

I’ve added it to my performance schedule for the 2012 season.  This is one of my favorite festivals and I recommend it to anyone who has never been before.

I may be filming some parts of my perfomance at this festival, so if you get a chance to see me, please remember you may be photographed.

Some interesting facts about balloons

See what I found at About.com on the internet.

The first rubber balloons were made by Professor Michael Faraday in 1824 for use in his experiments with hydrogen at the Royal Institution in London.

I find this fact interesting because first of all the balloon was invented by a Professor.  And second of all I know this professor from my studies in electricity.  You see, I know quite a bit about electricity, and its effect on balloons.

Did you know that if you rub a balloon over the skin of your forearm several times, that it will pick up a static electric charge.  You can use this static electric charge to do some interesting things.

You can make the hair on your head stand up simply by passing the balloon over your head, but not to close, just above your hair.  You will find “the hair standing up trick” is a lot of fun to show other people.

Another trick you can perform with a balloon is to stick it up on the ceiling using the same technique of rubbing it on your arm to “charge” it with electricity.  You may need the help of an adult to get the balloon to the ceiling, but after you rub it on your arm you can easily stick it to the ceiling. It won’t keep the charge very long, but it should stick on the ceiling for several seconds.

Schedule of Events 2012

Here is my schedule for planned appearances for the coming year 2012.  More will be added as information becomes available.

Jun 30-July 1        World Beat Festival, Salem, OR

July 7                      Portland Saturday Market, Portland, OR

July 13                   Oregon Country Fair, near Eugene, OR

July 14-15               Canterbury Renaissance Festival, Mt. Angel, OR

July 21-22              Canterbury Renaissance Festival, Mt. Angel, OR

July 27, 28 & 29    FaerieWorlds Summer Festival, Eugene, OR

August 3-5            Downtown Street Fair,  Coeur d’Alene, ID

August 7                National Night Out,  Red Lion Inn, Salem, OR

Professor Laffmoore Welcomes YOU !

Card from Handmade Felt, Lorraine Karassik

Card from Handmade Felt

Thank you for visiting my Professor Laffmoore site. I have added hyper-links to some of the festivals I have entertained at during the last year or two.

You are welcome to click on any wording that is a different color (other than quotes) and be magically transported to the home page of that particular event.

I hope you enjoy the color and festivities as much as I do.

I would love to know who is visiting my site. Wont you please leave me a message upon your visit? Just click the item on the top of the page which says “Contact The Professor” and I will reply.

FaerieWorlds Harvest Sept 17

The autumn edition of FaerieWorlds was a most exceptional festival.  We had a very fine day to perform and observe.  Everyone was in a grand mood.  We listened to some very good performers who entertained crowds of folks.

I put on some interesting majic shows while Heidi, my newly acquired companion made good use of my balloon pump.

Here is what Heidi had to say about FaerieWorld,

“FaerieWorlds is a wonderful festival that I had the supreme pleasure of participating in. The folk were friendly, and very colorful, characters.
The children were all very interested in Neverland, and of course the Proff. Laffmoore who enchanted them with majic and free balloons 🙂 and the young ones weren’t the only ones interested either!”

(You can read this in “comments” as well.)

 

Faerieworlds Festival Eugene June18

Faerieworlds

Faerieworlds 2011

Wow.  What a bash? Not near the crowd that I anticipated, but everyone had a good time at Faerieworlds.

Wet.  Very wet on Saturday due to the rain that fell on and off most all day. The day started out overcast and it turned to rain as the morning progressed.  Most of the campers entered from the camp areas as the sun began to rise, and they continued to enter the main stage area until 11:00 O’clock or so.  Some were damp and others were dry, but they all came with high expectations for a fun and entertaining day.

Russ and I set-up around 10:30 under the wishing tree where I was sure the children would congregate.  And sure enough they came.  Most of the children were accompanied by their parents, or another older adult.  I began blowing up balloons as the young ones arrived.  (Actually my able bodied assistant Russ ran the air pump.  Russ attended most all the festivals with me this year.  He got good and soaked on this day.)

The most appreciation for my balloon give-a-way was voiced by several mothers who had obviously been camping out overnight and had just gotten up and entered the festival area with their children.  Several comments were made as to how much they appreciate I was there to entertain their kids with free balloons.  The kids loved them and so did the folks.

As the children ran and played with their balloons I was able to attracted the attention of several of the more mature people with some of my famous street majic.

I was able to create a dance mood for one young couple who agreed to be hypnotized, and they loved it.  They kept coming back for more.