Library summer reading program’s Juggling Jeff performance a hit with kids and parents

[July 05, 2017]  LINCOLN -  A hurricane hit the Lincoln Public Library Thursday morning during this week’s summer reading entertainment, Hurricane Jeff to be exact. Juggling Jeff brought his hyper juggling and comedy act to the library for a room full of amazed kids and their parents. To say that Juggling Jeff had his audience in the palm of his hand would be an understatement.

Jeff hails from St. Louis and travels all over the Midwest with his show, performing over three-hundred times a year. He has been at it for twenty years. In addition to his comedy and juggling, Jeff is a speaker and life coach. “Yes, I do juggling and comedy, but I hope my performance is more than that. I want to develop a relationship with my audience, and let them be themselves for at least forty-five minutes, and have a laugh. I hope I can bring some change to their lives through humor and zaniness,” he said.

To judge from the reaction of his audience, he achieved his purpose. Even the normally reserved adults sitting in the back of the library annex were totally into his performance. The kids yelled and gave the thumbs up to Juggling Jeff and so did the adults. He pulled kids onto the stage to help with his act, and then pulled a mom from the audience to face the juggling “Clubs of Doom.” She was laughing so hard she even cracked Jeff up.

The Clubs of Doom, the giant oversized tennis balls, a Chinese Yoyo, and a container that had a big Hazardous Material sign on the outside were all part of the act. But Jeff did not choose these items. They were all displayed on a six-foot-long plastic table along with many more items that could have been part of the act. No, his audience of summer readers chose which items they wanted him to juggle. “I thought for sure they would choose the straight jacket,” he said with a laugh.

Once he was done with all the items the kids selected, he swept the remaining juggling stuff off the table, hefted it up, and balanced it on his head. His audience went crazy. He had just completed his forty-five minute show to thunderous applause. But wait, there was more.

At the end of each Thursday performance, Youth Librarian Melissa Oxborrow chooses five tickets from a plastic bottle for book prizes for the summer readers. This time, she asked Juggling Jeff to help pull the tickets from the jar. Jeff jumped on a big red ball and balanced on top of it while pulling winning tickets out.

And then he gave every member of the audience a Juggling Jeff bookmark. “These are special bookmarks. You can transfer them from book to book and page to page and they still work,” he said. Kids and parents lined up for a bookmark and a high-five from Juggling Jeff.

Everyone was in a state of wonder at the fun and surprises that Jeff brought to the Lincoln Public Library. He definitely achieved his goal of connecting with his audience.

The Lincoln Public Library summer reading program “Reading by Design” is still open for new readers. Contact Melissa Oxborrow at the library annex at 217-732-5732.

[Curtis Fox]