Is there any truth in this nice story?

[Timo Jokitalo]

I was reading 'Hocus Pocus' by Kurt Vonnegut, and came across the following
paragraph (p. 130):

He had grown up in Shelby, Wisconsin, where practically everybody, including
grandmothers, could ride a unicycle. The thing was, a circus had gone broke
while playing Shelby 60 years earlier and had abandoned a lot of its equipment,
including several unicycles. So more and more people there learned how to ride
them, and ordered more unicycles for themselves and their families. So Shelby
became and remains today, so far as I know, the Unicycling Capital of the World.

If this happened to be true, it would be a very nice story indeed. Does anyone
know? Does Shelby, Wisconsin even exist? My maps didn't recognise it.

Timo

[cotter@cae.wisc.edu]

According to Timo Jokitalo:
*
*
* I was reading 'Hocus Pocus' by Kurt Vonnegut, and came across the following
* paragraph (p. 130):
*
* He had grown up in Shelby, Wisconsin, where practically everybody, including
* grandmothers, could ride a unicycle. The thing was, a circus had gone broke
* while playing Shelby 60 years earlier and had abandoned a
* lot of its equipment,
* ride them, and ordered more unicycles for themselves and their families. So
* Shelby became and remains today, so far as I know, the Unicycling Capital
* of the World.
*
* If this happened to be true, it would be a very nice story indeed. Does
* anyone know? Does Shelby, Wisconsin even exist? My maps didn't recognise it.
*
* Timo
* I lived in Madison Wisconsin for five years going to school and never heard of
Shelby. Just the other day I checked a Wisconsin map and there was no towns or
cities named Shelby. There is however, a city called Baraboo that is known for
its circus. In Baraboo there is a circus meuseum with some professional
unicyclists doing shows (or so I've heard).

As for a Unicycling Capital of the World, I would have to say it would be a
Japanese city. Unicycling in Japan is big, thanks to Miyata corporation
promoting the one wheeled sport. When Japan has a unicycle meet they have
thousands attend while a National Unicycle Meet here in the US is happy to get
in the hundreds.
________________________________________________________________________ __
Andy Cotter cotter.cae.wisc.edu Unicon VII Director The 7th International
Unicycle Sports Convention August 2 to August 7, 1994

Address: Unicon VII; P.O Box 131404; St. Paul, MN 55113-0012
(612) 788-9137 phone; (612) 631-9234 fax