FIT FOR A KING (AND SOMETIMES NOT)
Pleasures and perils of street performing meet at Buskerfest
Performers prepare for ups and downs of Buskerfest,
Kyle Sipkens was once hired to don a pair of stilts and jump out and scare a partner at a business party.
“(The) business partner was deathly afraid of someone on stilts,” Sipkens said. “He went running down Cherry Beach, all the way to the woods.”
For the street performer, it was definitely one of his more unusual jobs. This weekend, however, he doesn’t plan on scaring anyone away.
The stilt walker is one of hundreds of performers expected to be part of the 13th annual Scotiabank BuskerFest, which runs Thursday through Sunday in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood.
Although he’s not expecting any hiccups, Sipkens is used to strange things happening in the crowd. At one parade, a woman who’d been “enjoying the festivities a little too much” wrapped herself around his legs. Though Sipkens laughed it off, other performers have more cautionary tales.
“I see over a million people every two weeks, so with that large number you’re always going to get some bad apples in the crowd,” said Peter Jarvis, who busks as SilverElvis. His act is a robotic, silver Elvis impersonator. He’s cash-activated — frozen until someone decides to donate. Then, he’ll begin to move slowly as Elvis hits blare in the background. He’s been donning his handmade silver suit and rubber wig in Toron- to for 13 years, with a love of the King and a knack for making people smile as his fuel. “It’s the magical side of it — that’s what I’m interested in,” he said. For some, Jarvis is an easy target. “I’ve been pushed, I’ve been slapped, spit on . . . I’ve been stolen from,” he said. “The audience really comes to my rescue a lot of times.”