{"data":{"id":"be5e4c3e-f353-4616-9074-9cd2c3154b8d","originKind":"SYNDICATED","title":"Keep your eye on the ball at Edmonton International Street Performers Festival","summary":"Juggling, it turns out, is hard. Performers like Charlie Peters make it look easy, tossing small objects into the air while cracking jokes. That’s part of the charm, of making difficult tasks look easy, like us mere mortals could do it, but we have other things to attend to at the moment.\n\nI try to keep this in mind, that Peters is an experienced hand, while I watch balls go whizzing past my head. Peters tells me to not worry about the catching part; I should focus on the timing and trajectory of throwing the three balls in my hand up into the air.\n\nPeters, who uses the pronouns ze/hir, tells me I’m doing great, that I’m ahead of the curve when it comes to juggling. It’s the reassurance of an expert that makes me think yes, maybe I can be a real juggler. I could turn this into a new career, behind journalism and that time I spent working as a baker in high school.\n\nIt’s the erratic flight of the juggling balls turned into dangerous projectiles that tells me no, there’s no way I can match the prowess of the performers at the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival.\n\nPeters will be at Sir Winston Churchill Square, July 3 to 12, one of the performers brought in to pass along their skills in the Busker Academy. A background in traditional acting was losing its appeal so ze decided to pivot to clowning, a spontaneous and joyous artwork interacting closely with crowds.\n\n“Literally anybody who’s passing by is welcome to come and we’ll show them how the props work or in the case of some of my colleagues, they’ll teach some aerial stuff,” says Peters. “But it’s a joy, and I think that that joy of discovery and learning something new and challenging yourself isn’t limited to our childhood.”\n\nJoining Peters at the academy will be Flyin’ Bob Palmer, the man with a tenuous connection to the ground helping the clown-curious to get up on stilts. Cirquetastic will also bring their unique style of aerial acrobatics to curious crowds looking to learn.\n\nBut that’s just three of the 38 artists from eight different countries making their way to Sir Winston Churchill square for the festival, wowing audiences with everything from acrobatics to rollerblading to that “easy” talent, juggling.\n\n“I’m actually really excited about the number of emerging, or evolving might be a better word, artists at the festival this year,” says Liz Hobbs, the Programming and Communications Director for the festival. There’s a total of 10 acts making their Streetfest debut this year.\n\nConrad Rivalland, a long-time performer with plenty of a quarter century of street performance, will hit the square for the first time this year. Sean Arceta has been to the festival in the past but will bring a new crew this year with Rhythm Speaks, a street dance show of the city’s best B-Boys. Lyne Gosselin will lead a relatively new show of high-flying acrobatics and rodeo royalty.\n\nThere’s no cost to head out to the square to catch a performance, though every act is a “pay what you will” affair where performers will pass around a hat to collect directly from the audience. Hobbs said it’s customary to drop in anywhere from $5 to $20, but even if you can’t afford to drop anything in the hat even a “thank you” is much appreciated by performers.\n\nAnd of course there’s the Late Night Madness Cabaret, an adult- only indoor performance at The Citadel. It’s the only part of the festival where you have to buy a ticket, but that doesn’t mean they have a schedule prepared. Even now, on the eve of the festival, literally no one knows what will be on stage.\n\n“Well, I can’t tell you anything about the cabaret, not until I have a meeting with a bunch of clowns on Sunday night and I kind of go, ‘Hey, what do we all want to do?’” says Hobbs.\n\n“Everyone throws out some ideas and then I go away for two days and try to put them into something that resembles a show order and then we have another meeting and we actually firm everything up.”\n\nThat “throwing together” generally results in zany, unpredictable antics from genuinely hilarious actors all trying to one up each other. That’s how you end up with someone trying to eat an entire container of mayonnaise.\n\nWhile June was the rainiest month on record, Hobbs is hoping for nice weather to usher in July. It’s impossible to plan for all of the weather permutations, every eventuality. Organizers hope for the best and adjust where they can when the gods of wind and rain don’t want to play ball.\n\nEven good weather can bring challenges when the stage is a massive slab of concrete with little to no shade where performers are doing some impressive physical feats. Staying hydrated is important, especially when juggling. I guess that would be the next lesson, the one after how to actually catch the juggling balls.\n\nEdmonton International Street Performers Festival When: July 3 to 12, Late Night Madness Cabaret July 10 and 11 at 10:15 p.m.\n\nWhere: Sir Winston Churchill Square\n\nTickets: Free for performances on the square (though feel free to fill the hat); tickets to the Late Night Madness Cabaret July 10-11 are $35 available through edmontonstreetfest.com","url":"https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/keep-your-eye-on-the-ball-at-edmonton-international-street-performers-festival","imageUrl":"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/juggling-4772-.ej_303820134.jpg","publishedAt":"2026-06-30T19:00:25.000Z","sourceLabel":"Edmonton Journal Music","tags":["Entertainment","Festivals","Local Arts"],"authorName":"Justin Bell","contentHtml":"\"Justin

Juggling, it turns out, is hard. Performers like Charlie Peters make it look easy, tossing small objects into the air while cracking jokes. That’s part of the charm, of making difficult tasks look easy, like us mere mortals could do it, but we have other things to attend to at the moment.

I try to keep this in mind, that Peters is an experienced hand, while I watch balls go whizzing past my head. Peters tells me to not worry about the catching part; I should focus on the timing and trajectory of throwing the three balls in my hand up into the air.

Peters, who uses the pronouns ze/hir, tells me I’m doing great, that I’m ahead of the curve when it comes to juggling. It’s the reassurance of an expert that makes me think yes, maybe I can be a real juggler. I could turn this into a new career, behind journalism and that time I spent working as a baker in high school.

It’s the erratic flight of the juggling balls turned into dangerous projectiles that tells me no, there’s no way I can match the prowess of the performers at the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival .

Peters will be at Sir Winston Churchill Square, July 3 to 12, one of the performers brought in to pass along their skills in the Busker Academy. A background in traditional acting was losing its appeal so ze decided to pivot to clowning, a spontaneous and joyous artwork interacting closely with crowds.

“Literally anybody who’s passing by is welcome to come and we’ll show them how the props work or in the case of some of my colleagues, they’ll teach some aerial stuff,” says Peters. “But it’s a joy, and I think that that joy of discovery and learning something new and challenging yourself isn’t limited to our childhood.”

\"

Joining Peters at the academy will be Flyin’ Bob Palmer, the man with a tenuous connection to the ground helping the clown-curious to get up on stilts. Cirquetastic will also bring their unique style of aerial acrobatics to curious crowds looking to learn.

But that’s just three of the 38 artists from eight different countries making their way to Sir Winston Churchill square for the festival, wowing audiences with everything from acrobatics to rollerblading to that “easy” talent, juggling.

“I’m actually really excited about the number of emerging, or evolving might be a better word, artists at the festival this year,” says Liz Hobbs, the Programming and Communications Director for the festival. There’s a total of 10 acts making their Streetfest debut this year.

Conrad Rivalland, a long-time performer with plenty of a quarter century of street performance, will hit the square for the first time this year. Sean Arceta has been to the festival in the past but will bring a new crew this year with Rhythm Speaks, a street dance show of the city’s best B-Boys. Lyne Gosselin will lead a relatively new show of high-flying acrobatics and rodeo royalty.

There’s no cost to head out to the square to catch a performance, though every act is a “pay what you will” affair where performers will pass around a hat to collect directly from the audience. Hobbs said it’s customary to drop in anywhere from $5 to $20, but even if you can’t afford to drop anything in the hat even a “thank you” is much appreciated by performers.

And of course there’s the Late Night Madness Cabaret, an adult- only indoor performance at The Citadel. It’s the only part of the festival where you have to buy a ticket, but that doesn’t mean they have a schedule prepared. Even now, on the eve of the festival, literally no one knows what will be on stage.

“Well, I can’t tell you anything about the cabaret, not until I have a meeting with a bunch of clowns on Sunday night and I kind of go, ‘Hey, what do we all want to do?’” says Hobbs.

“Everyone throws out some ideas and then I go away for two days and try to put them into something that resembles a show order and then we have another meeting and we actually firm everything up.”

That “throwing together” generally results in zany, unpredictable antics from genuinely hilarious actors all trying to one up each other. That’s how you end up with someone trying to eat an entire container of mayonnaise.

While June was the rainiest month on record, Hobbs is hoping for nice weather to usher in July. It’s impossible to plan for all of the weather permutations, every eventuality. Organizers hope for the best and adjust where they can when the gods of wind and rain don’t want to play ball.

Even good weather can bring challenges when the stage is a massive slab of concrete with little to no shade where performers are doing some impressive physical feats. Staying hydrated is important, especially when juggling. I guess that would be the next lesson, the one after how to actually catch the juggling balls.

Edmonton International Street Performers Festival

When: July 3 to 12, Late Night Madness Cabaret July 10 and 11 at 10:15 p.m.

Where: Sir Winston Churchill Square

Tickets: Free for performances on the square (though feel free to fill the hat); tickets to the Late Night Madness Cabaret July 10-11 are $35 available through edmontonstreetfest.com

","slug":"keep-your-eye-on-the-ball-at-edmonton-international-street-performers-festival","publicPath":"/news/2026-06-30-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball-at-edmonton-international-street-performers-festival"}}