The Berkeley Juggling and Unicycle Festival was a great success this past weekend (almost 500 attendees, including 20 people on the biggest MUni ride ever in Joaquin Miller Park), but there was one unfortunate piece of news. We had a dozen unicycles on loan from a local elementary school which has an after-school program where kids can learn to ride. (We even taught a workshop there to help promote the festival).
The problem is, at the end of the weekend we had only 9 unicycles instead of 12. We’re not sure if they were taken from where they were stored, or whether people just walked off with them, but in any case, the school has fewer unicycles than it did before our festival, and they are understandably upset. (So am I, for that mattter).
The unicycles mostly came from The Unicycle Factory, and they are in fairly poor repair; the seats, especially, have all torn through the rubber covers and subject their riders to gashes from the metal seat plates. (Maybe we can identify the thieves by the scars on their thighs). So in a sense, it’s not a big loss, but the school still needs to replace its inventory somehow.
So, I’m putting out a call to the unicyclist community; if you have a servicable child-sized unicycle that you’re not using (20" is probably best, but 16-18" or 24" would also be useful) and would be willing to donate it to Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, let me know. I’d like to find at least three, but more than that would also be useful, if they’re in better shape than the unicycles in question.