Kathy & I visited Marion, NC this past Saturday during their annual Mountain Glory Festival. This particular festival weekend is the only Saturday that  Bruce’s Fabulous Foods, one of our favorite eateries, is open.  The are typically a Monday-Friday lunch-only restaurant.  We get there as often as we can, but their schedule and ours don’t often overlap.

After our yummy lunch, we spent some time walking Main Street and checking out the vendors and performers.  We came across this guy, The Sidewalk Juggler, also known as Kyle Brown, who is a professional juggler.  This guy is good!

I think the thing that impressed me the most was the effortlessness with which he performed his act, smiling and joking with his audience all the time.  It’s clear that this is someone who truly loves his job.  This is evident not just from the constant smile on his face, but also because only love for your profession would inspire someone to work the number of hours that he obviously had to work in order to learn to do what he does.

This is hard work, and about as tough as it can get, I think.  Completely dependent on the generosity of others through their tips, his performance truly makes or breaks his livelihood. But talk about a portable skill!  This guy can work anyplace where there are people!  As I understand it from his Facebook page, his territory is ‘Western North Carolina.’  Check out his page and his YouTube videos.

My photos hardly do him justice, but I managed to capture a few frames that show the passion and concentration that this guy obviously has for his work.  I didn’t really appreciate it while I was taking the photos, but later on I thought about it and realized what a dedicated effort someone like this guy has to put into his profession.