Every March, I get in a car with some friends and head up to the beautiful, historic village of Eureka Springs, Arkansas for the Cavalcade of Magic, our state’s longest running magic convention. At my first Cavalcade, a high school teenager version of Blayk couldn’t believe what he was seeing at his first ever magic convention, and was a little nervous to be sharing his own juggling and magic in two of that weekend’s shows. But that would turn out to be only the first of many. Fast-forward more than a decade later when I joined a group of magicians and friends—some I originally met at that first convention—on stage for the Saturday gala show that would bring 2025’s edition of the Cavalcade weekend to a close (unless you count the real closing event, which is breakfast at Myrtie May’s the next morning). My role in the show was to open with an attention-getter, then turn it over to my friend Paul Carlon to MC the rest of the hour-long show.

Several weeks before, Paul and I had decided that my newest act, the candlestick, would do the job. Its music is welcoming, the fire gets them sitting up and paying attention, then the act builds to a big finish that has the crowd loud and excited right as the show is kicking into gear. At least, that was the goal! On the ride up, Paul and I worked through the details of how the show would run; after I introduced him, I’d be his assistant backstage, helping other performers—a children’s magician, mentalist, comedian, and a Branson stage illusionist—move props on and offstage, make sure people are ready and on-time, and put out inevitable backstage fires (I meant this figuratively, but my act wasn’t even the only one that involved an open flame, so I guess I was prepared for literal ones too). I’d also do a rope routine to fill time while they set the stage for the closing act.

The crowd wasn’t just magicians attending the convention—the hotel advertised the show weeks in advance to people who would be visiting, and with magicians crawling the town for a few days, others had gotten word too! With a full room and dimmed lights, the instrumental version of Be Our Guest played, and before long, I was flipping matches in the air and face-balancing a lit candle a few feet away from the room’s smoke detector. (I learned the next morning that the building’s security officer tensed up at this point, and was at the back of the room clutching the sprinkler shutoff key. I was unworried, as I had thoroughly tested this before the show.) The audience seemed to enjoy my newest weird juggling stunt, and most importantly, they were ready for a fun show. All the other magicians did a great job, and Paul absolutely killed as an MC. It was an incredible night that made me happy to be a part of this annual pilgrimage with my friends.

Other highlights from the convention included…

Joey Williams doing his signature coin magic in the close-up show
Late night sleight of hand tricks with movie prop cigarettes Paul brought to use for an MC joke
A post-show trip to our favorite spot in town, the Pied Piper Pub, where we listened to live music, downed some good food and drinks, and performed impromptu magic for some strangers at the bar

Since I’ve made so many magic friends there over the years, every time I get to perform at the Cavalcade feels special. After so much juggling in that particular convention center ballroom—starting with little Blayk’s first Cavalcade—it always feels like writing a new chapter when I get to share something new with those friends. Here’s a video of that particular performance, if you’d like to see how it went.

This entry is part of Juggling Field Notes—click here to read more.