1

Street Performer: Guy Collins“The Groovy Guy”By Steven Paananen

ver one hundred people crowd around one daring man. The whole

crowd c laps in uni son, cheering him on as he jumps on a tightrope while juggling knives. Oh, he’s also been blindfolded the whole time. His name is Guy Collins, but he goes by “The Groovy Guy” when he’s performing. The blindfolded juggling tightrope walk is only one of his tricks. Collin juggles fire, balances objects on his head, and rides a six foot unicycle. Stephen Smoot, artistic producer of The

Ravinia Festival in Illinois, says, “His bigger-than-life per sonal i ty whi le he i s performing and the variety of ‘stunts’ that he does is nothing short of amazing.  Toss in h i s h u m o r a n d ability to completely consume his audience and you have a true recipe for success.” Collins makes his shows funny by throwing a prop finger into the audience that he pretends i s the af ter math of an accident with his knives, or getting a toilet plunger stuck t o h i s b a l d h e a d a n d

pretending it’s been used. Col l in s has been performing since 1987. He lives in Warren, Vermont, but

still manages to p e r f o r m i n Faneuil hall about 6 times a month.

When asked why he does it, he replies “It’s a very good feeling when you make people happy.” Collins also likes the freedom this job gives him to be his own boss and to do what he likes when he likes. He says some other benefits of his job are the good exercise and being outdoors.

21st Century Clowning at its best!

GUYCOLLINSN

ov 2

0, 2

012

O“It’s a good feeling

when you make people happy.”

2

Street performing can appear to be a fun and easy job, but it is not as simple as one might think. In order to perform at Faneuil hall, Collins explains, “You need insurance. You need to audition for the market management and that needs to be done in April. If you pass the audition, and they don't let a lot of people on every year because there's a lot of people already here, then you get on to the program.” It’s a very difficult program to get into, and only the best of the best get in. Today, Faneuil Hall is the fourth most visited tourist site in America, only preceded by Times Square, the Las Vegas Strip, and Washington D.C.’s Memorial Parks. Faneuil Hall definitely has amazing street performers to attribute to its national popularity. When asked how Faneuil Hall would be different if it had no street performers, Guy Collins immediately answered, “It would suck. People come here to see the street performers.” Even though the ongoing performances are what makes the marketplace the fun, successful, and exciting community it is today, Faneuil Hall does not pay any of it’s street performers. The performers rely entirely on donations from the audience for their salary. That being said, it’s shocking how many people enjoy the street performer’s show, then walk away without donating anything. “I would say that you have to account that at least 50% of people

watching me will leave without giving me anything,” says Collins. “You can't feel bad about it though. If you feel bad about it then you shouldn't do this job.“ When asked why so many people walk away without donating, Collins responded, “There’s a whole variety of reasons. A lot of people walk away because they can… because it’s free. Some people just haven’t got very much money, and that’s ok. You can’t force people to give you money, can you?” While it’s understandable many people do not have money to spend on street performances, if an audience member has a spare dollar, simply walking away from a performance he or she enjoyed is like saying the show wasn’t worth anything. When the management of Faneuil Hall was asked why they do not pay their street performers, they did not care to respond. Collins doesn’t think it’s necessary for them to pay their performers in the summer, but he says, “If Faneuil Hall wants people here in the winter, then they should obviously pay the street performers.” Collins usually has to travel to warmer places in the winter in order to keep performing his show. He says the seasonal traveling is difficult since he has a family.

“You have to account that at least 50% of people watching you will leave without giving you anything. You can’t feel bad about it though. If you feel bad about it

then you shouldn’t do this job.”

Street Performer: Guy Collins“The Groovy Guy”

GUY

COLLINS

Nov

embe

r 20,

201

2 Top 10 Tourist Sites In America

1.Times Square,New

York City:

37.6 million

2. The Las Vegas

Strip, Nev.:

30 Million

3. National Mall and

Memorial Parks,

Washington, D.C.

25 million

4. Faneuil Hall

Marketplace, Boston:

20 Million

5. Disney World's

Magic Kingdom, Lake

Buena Vista, Fla.:

17.1 million

6. Disneyland Park,

Anaheim, Calif.:

14.9 million

7. Fisherman's Wharf/

Golden Gate National

Recreation Area, San

Francisco:

14.1 million

8. Niagara Falls, N.Y.:

12 million

9. Great Smoky

Mountains National

Park, Tenn./N.C.:

9.04 million

10. Navy Pier,

Chicago:

8.6 million

3

There are many regulations and restrictions on street performers. Collins says, “You used to be able to go pretty much anywhere and just do your show. Things have changed a bit.” Faneuil Hall doesn’t let just anybody perform in their area because they want to maintain a professional image and a safe environment for everyone, but are these regulations really necessary? According to Collins, the mandatory insurance one needs to perform is very expensive. The restrictions limit what kinds of stunts performers can do. Collins can do excellent tricks with fire, but Faneuil hall doesn’t allow him to do

any of them. Banning certain tricks is not necessarily a bad thing, but it means some shows have to be modified. Collins doesn’t have any trouble attracting large crowds even without his fire tricks. He says, “I learn from every show. It takes training, practice, practice and doing it again and again to get where I am.” Through the 25 years of experience, Guy Collins has put together a wonderful show that audiences enjoy year after year.

Street Performer: Guy Collins“The Groovy Guy”

“You used to be able to go pretty much anywhere and just do your show. Things have changed a bit.”Guy Collins

GUY

COLLINS

Nov

embe

r 20,

201

2

About the Author: Steven Paananen is a street performer himself. He knows how to juggle, unicycle, tightrope walk, and twist balloon animals. He has performed all of these skills for crowds on the street.