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Magic Returns To Colon, Michigan, Saturday

31 Flavors of Magic Festival

The Village of Colon hosts its fifth annual "31 Flavors of Magic Festival" on Saturday, April 27, 2019. It's organized by the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Ron Carnell of Colon's IBM chapter (they are known as "rings") is in charge of the event. He says it is designed to expose people to a variety of magical traditions.

"Magic is a lot like music. There's country music, there's gospel music, there's all different kinds of music. Well, there's also all different kinds of magic, and that's exactly what we're trying to display during '31 Flavors of Magic.'"

Carnell says the festival will offer 34 shows by 17 magicians to showcase the variety of magical traditions.

"Gospel magic, close-up magic, parlor magic, stage magic, mentalism - we're still to figure out how to get a cruise ship into Palmer Lake so we can do cruise ship magic."

Standing room only at Abbott's Magic Company in Colon, Michigan

The village in Saint Joseph County has considered itself the "Magic Capital of the World" since Harry Blackstone, Senior, moved there in 1926. This will be the last "31 Flavors of Magic Festival," at least for a while. Carnell says the Colon IBM group is looking for new opportunities.

"We want to move on and do something else, and we're not sure what yet. We have very limited resources as a small club. So, we want to see where we can put those resources in the future. Who knows, maybe next year we'll do '37 Flavors of Magic.'"

Carnell says the change in direction won't affect plans for the 82nd "Magic Get-Together" in Colon August 7-10, 2019. It's been an annual tradition there since 1933.

Magicians famously keep their methods a closely guarded secret. Carnell says that's for the audience as well as magicians.

"I tell audiences all the time is that we don't keep secrets from the audience. We keep secrets for the audience, because without those secrets the sense of wonder evaporates."

Andy Robins has been WMUK's News Director since 1998 and a broadcast journalist for over 24 years. He joined WMUK's staff in 1985. Under his direction, WMUK has received numerous awards for news reporting.
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