The Pogopalooza III Logo.

By Justin Iannello

(June 24th, 2006)—Forgive me as I articulate my first creative piece of writing: Pogopalooza III Recap. While the event, "Pogopalooza", which is a gathering of pogo enthusiasts stretching as far as the four corners of North America, may be virtually unheard of to the common public, it has become an annual holiday for www.xpogo.com members. Hosted by Wholly Cow Ice Cream & Bar-B-Que! in Schodack (Albany), New York, these crazy bouncers delivered a message to local news and radio stations, and the Schodack community. Some showed up for the day of the event while others were hosted by the McClintock family.

Perhaps the feature of the day was the high-jump competition, essentially a pole vault using some of the more powerful pogo sticks on the market. While this event was non-sanctioned, Fred Grzybowski and Nick McClintock were still motivated to shatter the current world record of 6 feet held by: Brian Spencer (co-owner of Vurtego) clearing 6 ½ and 7 feet, respectively. The "hang-time" for Nick and Fred was breathtaking. Ecstatic to enter the ranks as the best high-jumpers, this certainly didn’t come without a price to pay between practice, injuries and a multitude of broken pogo sticks.

Pogopalooza III saw the largest turnout of jumpers yet.

A showcase of extraordinary and diverse talent was displayed as hundreds grew hungry to observe. The sport has progressed at a rapid rate and Fred Grzybowski confirmed its growth by making backflips look as easy as brushing your teeth. But that’s not enough for some of the female riders. Caroline VanBlargan answered back by being crowned champion of P-O-G-O, a variation to H-O-R-S-E on the basketball court, but instead claiming her pogo territory by putting up a stellar performance.

With hopes of the sport coming to fruition by increasing the popularity of Pogapaloozas, pogo manufacturers Flybar (part of SBI, Inc.), MotoStik and Vurtego donated pogo sticks, T-shirts, hats, stickers, flyers and other items. Is there hope for this sport to make an even bigger impact in the future? I think so. Until then, Dave Armstrong (founder of www.xpogo.com) advises "just keep jumping man".

Click here to downolad the official Pogopalooza III movie