CEDAR FALLS – As Jason Dornbush held up the albino Burmese Python in front of children in the Kidsway Activity Tent, they dropped their jaws and stared at the giant snake in amazement.
Dornbush, Grout Museum District science outreach coordinator, and Erin Hogan, Grout Museum District outreach assistant, showed a variety of snakes to a full crowd during their Snakes Alive! presentation Sunday at the Sturgis Falls Celebration in Cedar Falls.
Hogan shared interesting facts about snakes with the crowd and allowed people to pet the live snakes.
Jennifer Klein of Waterloo watched the show with her four children – Arthur, 14, Jack, 12, George, 10 and Lucy, 9.
“It was very cool,” Klein said of the show. “Snakes are scary so it’s really neat to see them at a distance and up close.”
Her kids’ favorite part of the show was touching the snakes.
“They seem like they would be slimy, but they’re not,” said Lucy.
Provided by the Grout Museum and sponsored by Hy-Vee and Veridian Credit Union, the show gave the crowd a glimpse of four types of snakes — corn snakes, ball pythons, bull snakes and the python.
The show also featured the Dean of Juggling Dean Franzen. Franzen has been a professional juggler for 23 years and has been performing at Sturgis Falls for more than 20 years.
“It’s always kind of like my homecoming,” he said of the celebration. “I see a lot of kids here that I’ve seen before. Some of the kids that I have performed for in the past bring their kids now.”
The show was sponsored by Lincoln Savings Bank and featured Chinese devil stick juggling, 4-ball juggling, 5-ball juggling, machete juggling, fire juggling, juggling while balancing spinning plates and juggling while riding a unicycle, among other tricks.
Franzen’s wife, Jolene, also juggled during the show. The pair juggled clubs back and forth all while making the audience laugh with clever jokes.
Franzen got children from the audience involved, often having them assist with his tricks.
“I thought he really appealed to all the kids and some of the adults,” said Kate Dunning of Cedar Falls who was attending the show with her 5-year-old daughter, Lucy. “He was very entertaining; it was spot on for Sturgis Falls.”