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The Chairmen aim to dazzle audiences with patio furniture at annual Children's Festival

By: Alison Mayes

Posted: 06/10/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

The Chairmen are among 21 acts set to entertain at the 28th annual Winnipeg International Children’s Festival. The rain-or-shine family event, packed with music, storytelling, dance, circus and variety shows under four tents, runs today through Sunday at a large fenced site at The Forks.

10 Kidsfest highlights

THE Winnipeg International Children's Festival is the third-oldest and third-largest in Canada. Neal Rempel, a former juggler, fire eater and stilt walker, has been involved in the celebration of family fun since its inception in 1983 and is now the executive producer.

We asked the fun-loving Rempel to help us highlight 10 reasons to take in the 28th annual Kidsfest.

1. One ticket price gets you a full day of activity. "You can mix up your day: go see a show, have a bite to eat, see another show, make a craft, fly on the trapeze," says Rempel.

2. The fest offers more hands-on activities than any other Canadian children's festival. Kids can make crafts such as hats, neckties and pinwheels, make a paper-bag kite, play with clay, excavate replica fossils or go critter-dipping with a net and magnifying glass.

3. The all-weather site is set up for families, with plenty of shade, baby-changing stations, washrooms, concessions and water. It's completely accessible for the disabled. Most people bring a blanket for sitting inside the tents, or a tarp if it's rainy.

4. It's a multi-generational outing where kids get to set the pace and agenda. Winnipeggers who grew up enjoying it are now "doing audience development for us by having children," says Rempel. Kids who come with their school on a weekday often return with their families on the weekend, and don't have to pay again.

5. It's a chance to see three of Winnipeg's best-loved family entertainers: Fred Penner, Al Simmons and Jake Chenier. Other locals include taiko drummers Fubuki Daiko, juggler Robin Chestnut and spoken-word artist T'ai Pu.

6. National and international acts include Bobs and Lolo, a Vancouver singing duo whose videos air on Treehouse TV; Ache Brasil, a troupe that performs the Afro-Brazilian martial art/dance form known as capoeira; and Hilby, the Skinny German Juggle Boy from New York. Rempel says Ralph Shaw, a vaudeville-style performer from B.C. who proclaims himself the King of the Ukulele, could be the "find" of the 2010 festival.

7. Roving entertainers, such as clowns, musicians and stilt-walkers, add to the fair-like atmosphere. One first-time Kidsfest entertainer who's likely to attract attention is Hollywood-based Lee Zimmerman. "He's the world's fastest Etch A Sketch artist," says Rempel. "He's going to be in a tent, doing Etch A Sketch workshops... He's an Etch A Sketch savant."

8. At the interactive tent called Artists & Audiences -- Bridging the Gap, kids can meet performers and learn some of their skills. Besides flying on the "monstrously popular" swinging trapeze, kids can try juggling, drumming, magic tricks and dancing.

9. If you've got a kid who's fascinated by backhoes, cranes and other heavy equipment, come on down. The Museum for Human Rights and The Forks' new interactive playground are under construction. Friday, the Manitoba Government Employees' Union is holding Wee Worker's Day at Kidsfest and there will be construction equipment that kids can explore.

10. The free Kidstock "family rock 'n' roll" concert, which ends with fireworks, is Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the Scotiabank Stage. The five-act lineup includes Rocki Rolletti & the Junior Noodle Wave Band.

JUST about everybody’s got a few in their yard or on their deck.

Those white, stackable patio chairs made of plastic resin are cheap, but you wouldn't think they'd be the most stable props for a circus-style act.

"We're not too stable, either!" quips "Flyin' Bob" Palmer, one half of The Chairmen, a wacky duo that performs juggling, balancing stunts and comedy with the ultra-common chairs.

The Chairmen are among 21 acts set to entertain at the 28th annual Winnipeg International Children's Festival. The rain-or-shine family event, packed with music, storytelling, dance, circus and variety shows under four tents, runs today through Sunday at a large fenced site at The Forks.

Palmer, 53, is a tightwire walker as well as a juggler. He has performed in Winnipeg many times. He notes that most Canadian kids' festivals have separately ticketed performances, but he likes the system used in Winnipeg of charging one gate admission that includes access to all shows and activities.

"It's like a fair," he says. "All the shows are in tents, so it really has a circus feel to it."

Palmer, who lives in Alberta, and his British Columbia-based juggling partner James O'Shea used to call themselves Flying Debris. They developed their 45-minute "Chair-Raising Experience" act in 2005 and have continued to tweak it.

It was a big hit at the Winnipeg festival in 2006, so it's back for one show daily at Tent 3.

The playful Chairmen juggle chairs, dance with chairs, and involve kids in "the most competitive game of musical chairs you've ever seen." At one point, they hold chairs upside down over their heads so the legs become antlers for a battle "like two deer fighting in mating season."

They also build nine-chair pyramids, then each balances a pyramid atop a 10th chair that's balanced upside down on his chin. "That weighs close to 60 pounds," says Palmer. On windy days when the show is done outside, the pyramids are especially tricky to control.

One reason audiences are amazed by the act, Palmer says, is that the patio chairs are so ordinary. "If you can do something unusual with something that everybody recognizes, it has a real impact. It makes them look at things they normally see around them with new eyes."

The Chairmen are bringing their own chairs to Winnipeg, but they sometimes arrive in a city and head to Canadian Tire to buy 25 chairs for $8 to $10 each. "Sometimes they have really sharp edges on them where they've been moulded, so we'll shave off those edges," Palmer says.

If they do buy chairs, after the final show they give them away to audience members in exchange for donations in their hat.

Palmer has a whole garage full of the cheap seats at home -- including the mini size for kids -- because he's always experimenting with new routines. "I was working on some ideas for trying to turn them into stilts...

"Many chairs were hurt in the development of this show," he adds. "But we're excellent at repairing them. White duct tape is The Chairmen's friend."

Festival tickets are $12 ($40 for a family pack of four) at all Winnipeg Safeway and Assiniboine Credit Union locations.

Tickets at the gate are $14 ($48 for a family pack of four). Children under two get in free. Kids under 12 only need to pay once for the entire festival, provided they keep their wristbands on. Full programs, including schedules for all tents, are handed out on-site.

For more information, visit www.kidsfest.ca or call 958-4730.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 10, 2010 E10

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