71st Annual IJA FESTIVAL

From 71st Annual IJA FESTIVAL Website:

Join us for the 2018 IJA festival in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The International Jugglers' Association was founded in June of 1947 at an International Brotherhood of Magicians convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). Twenty jugglers met together and had a memorable juggling session, highlighted by Bobby Jule's introduction of the Chiesa Brothers, who showed off 8 and 9 ring juggling and other skills that they presented in their act with Ringling Brothers.

The first annual convention (later festival) was held in Jamestown, NY, in June of 1948. It was attended by 38 of the young organization's 115 members. The conventions of the 1950s and 1960s remained small gatherings, usually bringing together between twenty and thirty jugglers. The first convention held on the West Coast of the USA was held in 1968 and drew forty attendees. In 1975, the first convention to utilize a gym was held in Youngstown, Ohio, and was organized by Dick Franco and Joe Sullivan. It was attended by 175 people and marked the first "modern" convention.

By 1982, more than 600 jugglers were coming to the IJA Convention. The first IJA convention or festival held outside the USA took place in Montreal, Canada, in 1992. In 1978, the IJA held a mini-convention in Brighton, UK. This became the start of the European Juggling Convention, which is now the world's largest gathering of jugglers.